Sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, are extremely prevalent among those in Mexico City's male sex work industry.

According to a new study, a lack of protective measures and widespread risky sexual behaviors can be blamed for Mexico City's male sex workers' contraction of diseases.

Findings published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society shows that sex workers can make 34.5 percent more money if they forgo condoms, which could result in the likely spread of STIs. The new research involved interviewing and testing 267 male sex workers who visited the city's Clínica Especializada Condesa. The report documented unembellished health dangers that male sex workers face when performing sex acts in hotels, streets and discotheques of Mexico City.

Of the workers who participated in the study, 1 percent had hepatitis C, 2 percent had gonorrhea, 3 percent had active hepatitis, 10 percent had chlamydia, 21 percent had syphilis and 38 percent had HIV.

Most workers were unaware or confused about their health status. Fourteen out of 100 didn't know they had it; 11 said they didn't have it; and 16 said they didn't want to answer the question, even though they agreed to testing.

Omar Galárraga, lead author and health economist, is one of many individuals looking to unearth an incentive that might reduce the spread of HIV and other diseases in the same-sex male sex work environment. Galárraga, who is the assistant professor of health services, policy and practice in the Brown University School of Public Health, stated, "It's a very highly at-risk population."

Sex workers' lack of awareness has led to spread of disease, as all workers make numerous sexual contacts each week. On average, they engage in sex with more than four paying customers and about three non-paying partners each week. And their sex partners are almost always male.

Barrier devices (i.e., condoms) are the best way to prevent the spread of disease -- but condom use is lacking. Sex workers reported using condoms just 78-84 percent of the time. The reason behind this is because the median price for sex is about $32 (with a condom), but sex workers can earn well over $40 if they have sex without the use of protection.

Galárraga and study coauthors from Brown University have been testing an idea for countering the market incentive to forgo condoms. They also want to connect workers to health care services, such as infection testing. They would like to offer payment in the form of grocery vouchers and food twice a year if workers oblige to using condoms to stay healthy.

The workers could get vouchers every six months valued at as much as $75 if follow-up testing shows that they hadn't acquired diseases. Galárraga and his colleagues said sex workers were willing to change their behavior for that much.

"Avoiding clients who pay higher prices for unprotected sex implies monetary losses for male sex workers," the researchers wrote in the study. "Thus compensation in the form of economic incentives for self-protection can offer one method for reducing risk behaviors and improving individual and population health."

Pilot trails are pending, and researchers hope to expand testing to a wider group. Since they conducted this study, researchers have made contact with hundreds more sex workers.