As per a study that appeared in the journal BMC Public Health, it has been revealed that the rate of undiagnosed and general HIV infection cases among gay and bisexual men living in Auckland has increased to a great extent.

The study that was led by Dr. Peter Saxton of Otago University has unveiled that one in five gay or bisexual men in Auckland are having HIV. The most astonishing part of the study is that many of them are claimed to be unaware of their condition.

It is expected that many of them still would be not having any idea about their HIV condition as it was being done anonymously, said Saxton, who further affirmed that 20% of the tested people did not have an idea about their HIV condition.

Unawareness of the condition means that they are delaying the treatment and are not looking after themselves properly. Not only this, they might even be passing it on to others. Saxton said that an HIV test is free of cost in New Zealand, but still people do not avail the opportunity and keep themselves updated.

“A person with undiagnosed HIV cannot tell someone they're infected and might not initiate safe sex. The practical reality of this is that everyone, especially gay men, needs to become better educated, supported and proficient at safe sex to control HIV”, told Saxton.

It is said to be the first community based biological study which have been done to know undiagnosed and overall HIV infection rate in Auckland. In order to conduct study, the study researchers recruited 1049 gay and bisexual men from Auckland.

In order to determine their HIV status, questionnaires were handed out to them and saliva samples were also being taken. The findings were shocking for them as majority of them said they could not HIV. But many of them turned out to be positive for HIV.