Sexual behavior of heterosexual men and women attending an HIV testing clinic

The prevalence of high risk sexual behaviors was assessed among heterosexual men (n = 154) and women (n = 109) voluntarily attending an HIV testing clinic in Jerusalem. Men were found to be involved more frequently than women in nonmonogamous relationships (66% vs. 45% respectively, P < 0.001), to have more casual partners (21% vs. 11% had three or more casual partners, P < 0.01), and to report passive oral sex (71% vs. 50%, P < 0.01) and anal sex (23% vs. 12%, P < 0.05). Condom use was not a very common practice, and was higher among men than among women (57% vs. 47% in vaginal sex, and 30% vs. 19% in oral sex respectively, NS). Appropriate counselling for this population attending the clinic is advised and urgently needed.