A new craze has been trending among men in the UK, who are secretly seeking and spreading HIV.
The reckless practice, known as bug chasing, started in the US as a bizarre means of getting a sexual high from risk-taking, the Mirror reported.
According to one man who willingly caught the virus, hundreds of men in the UK are introducing themselves on online forums, Facebook groups and Twitter.
Many then meet up and try to transmit the potentially life-threatening virus, which attacks the immune system weakening the body's ability to fight disease.
Some bug-chasers actually claim the virus gives them a better quality of life because of the medication they subsequently have to take.
Bug chasing is so new to the UK it is impossible to say how many men are involved.
In the US, where the phenomenon was first identified in 1999, research is further advanced.
An investigation by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003 claimed a quarter of all new HIV transmissions in the US could be attributed to bug chasing.
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