Either way, people only rarely call themselves bugchasers, and they only try to get HIV even more rarely. This behavior does not entirely fit in with their identity. This means that bugchasing actions are rarely based on persons known to have HIV and having sex with them. Instead, a lot of bugchasers have sex in ambiguous situations, where they do not know if their partners have HIV. In 2005, researchers said there was no empirical evidence that bugchasing existed; they said that bugchasing as an idea and an activity existed, but it was rare.