Taiwanese health authorities have urged men, especially MSM (men who have sex men), to take precautions against catching HIV after a survey showed that the virus is on the rise in the gay community, the Taipei Times reports.

According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), an estimated 87.7 percent of the HIV carriers contracted the virus via sex, and 92.8 percent of them are male.

The survey conducted from September 1997 to June this year interviewed 424 HIV positive males that received medical services from the Taipei Municipal Venereal Disease Control Institute.

The CDC emphasised the promotion of safe sex among gay males because 58.5 percent of respondents to the survey claimed they were gay, while another 21.9 percent said they were bisexual; only 19.6 percent of those surveyed said they were heterosexual.

The survey revealed that 60 percent of the gays and 53.9 percent of bisexual males have sex with their dates or partners at saunas, which are the most favoured place, other than the home, to have sex.

The survey also indicated that the number of sexual partners gays have is higher than that of heterosexuals. The gays surveyed had had an average of 38.8 sexual partners and the average number of sexual partners for heterosexual male HIV carriers was 29.

The average number of sexual partners of Taiwanese people is 4.3, according to a recent sex survey by condom manufacturer Durex.

According to CDC's end November figures, 3,264 of the 3,517 Taiwanese HIV carriers are male.