An HIV-Positive Man's Lesson to Those Wanting to Be Infected with the Virus

Another World AIDS Day has come and gone. I had a lazy Sunday on December 2, the day after World AIDS Day. I signed onto the Internet, logged into my Gay.com account, and went into the HIV-Positive Men's chat room. In shortly more than an hour, two Chicago men who self-identify as HIV-negative entered the chat room. They are part of a group of HIV-negative men that are known as bug chasers. These are people who actively seek out other people who have the virus that causes AIDS and ask them to infect them with the virus.

Over the years I've been Poz, I've chatted online with several bug-chasers. Because I am open about my HIV status, it becomes apparent pretty quickly when someone who is HIV-negative is contacting me because he is a bug-chaser. That's not to say everyone who is HIV-negative who contacts me online is seeking to become Positive. Safe sex between HIV-negative and HIV-positive people can be just as safe as safe sex between two HIV-negative people. With bug-chasers, the conversation quickly shifts to a desire to engage in unprotected sex, which is called barebacking.

Being HIV-Positive myself, I cannot answer the question of why bug-chasers exist and what motivates them. I also cannot explain those individuals who are HIV-Positive who are willing to have unprotected sex with bug-chasers with the hopes of infecting them. I've heard that there are conversion parties where an individual hoping to become infected with HIV has unprotected sex with multiple HIV-positive partners in a night.