Often thought of as strictly a "gay thing", studies are showing that anal intercourse is also part of heterosexual coupling, and is largely unprotected, said Jim Pickett, chair of International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA), which released a report on the subject at the conference.
The report, Less Silence, More Science warned that researchers could no longer afford to ignore anal sex - one of the biggest drivers of the epidemic - and called for more research into the development of a rectal microbicide.
