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Epidemiologic assessment of screening tests for antibody to human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I).

We tested 196 sera from a human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) risk group (prostitute women) with two commercial "research" enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assays (EIA) for HTLV-I antibodies. All tested sera were characterized by HTLV-I Western immunoblots and by HTLV-I radioimmunoprecipitation assays. The estimated sensitivities of the EIA tests were 93.8 percent and 100 percent, and the specificities were 98.8 percent and 95.8 percent, respectively, using recommended criteria for seropositivity (requiring reactivity to both gag p24 and env gp46 or gp61/68). Calculated negative predictive values remained excellent (greater than 99.9 percent and 100 percent, respectively) at lower seroprevalence rates but the positive predictive values were only 7.3 percent and 2.3 percent when calculated for a seroprevalence rate of 0.1 percent. These results emphasize the importance and need for additional HTLV-I supplementary serologic testing when screening populations with low HTLV-I seroprevalence rates.

Blotting, Western↗

Chancroid and granuloma inguinale.

Haemophilus ducreyi is a fastidious pathogen that can be routinely cultured with the appropriate media and incubation environment. Prostituted women appear to be the usual reservoir. In Africa, chancroid is emerging as the major risk factor for acquisition of HIV-1 following heterosexual intercourse. Despite the emergence of resistance to a number of antimicrobial agents, H. ducreyi remains susceptible to ceftriaxone, erythromycin, and ciprofloxacin. Control and eradication of outbreaks of chancroid have been successful on several occasions in Western societies; strategies to control epidemic genital ulcer disease are required in developing countries. Granuloma inguinale is caused by a small, gram-negative rod, which has never been well-characterized. The presence of Donovan bodies is a specific and sensitive diagnostic characteristic. Very little is known about the epidemiology of the disease. Specific treatment programs using trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole or erythromycin seem to be quite effective. Control strategies have not been adequately investigated.

Campylobacter↗

HIV-1 infection in Juba, southern Sudan.

Thirty years of civil war in the Sudan have resulted in the isolation of the southern provinces which border Central and East Africa. Consequently, little is known about the epidemiology of HIV-1 infection in this region. To estimate the prevalence of HIV-1 infection in southern Sudan and the risk factors associated with disease transmission, a seroepidemiologic survey was conducted in the township of Juba. Study subjects invited to participate in this study included medical outpatients, inpatients hospitalized for active tuberculosis, and female prostitutes. A total of 401 subjects participated in the study. HIV-1 infection was confirmed in 25 subjects. The prevalence of HIV-1 infection was 19% (8/42) among tuberculosis patients, 16% (8/50) among prostitutes, and 3% (9/309) among outpatients. A significantly higher prevalence of HIV-1 infection was found among female prostitutes when compared to female outpatients: 16% (8/50) vs. 2% (4/178), P < 0.001. Correspondingly, the prevalence of seropositives was significantly higher among male outpatients reporting a history of sexual relations with prostitutes during the prior 10 years compared to male outpatients denying relations with prostitutes: 14% (5/37) vs. 0% (0/94), P = 0.0011. A history of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) was also associated with HIV-1 infection among male outpatients. The findings of this study indicate that HIV-1 infection is highly prevalent in southern Sudan and that prostitutes and their sexual partners represent a major reservoir of HIV infection in this population. This epidemiologic pattern resembles that seen in the African nations neighboring southern Sudan.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

Risk factors of HIV-1 infection among female prostitutes in Khon Kaen, Northeast Thailand.

HIV infection has increased to epidemic proportions in Thailand since 1987. There have been separate epidemics among population groups at high risk of infection and significant increases in different localities. The northeast region of Thailand has been affected by the epidemic since early 1989. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with HIV transmission among prostitutes during an early phase of the epidemic in the regional center of Khon Kaen. Three hundred and fifty-six prostitutes known to work in the urban area of Khon Kaen (Ampur Muang) in November 1990 were included in the study. Prostitutes were divided into two groups according to the type of place where they worked: direct prostitutes (in brothels, n = 217) and indirect prostitutes (in massage parlors, n = 139). The prevalence of HIV infection was found to be 12% among direct prostitutes and 2% among indirect prostitutes. Four variables were significantly associated with HIV infection after adjusting for confounders by logistic regression analysis: previous work in an area of high HIV prevalence, working in Khon Kaen less than one month, a low price charged for sex and using injectable contraceptives. Follow-up investigations are currently being carried out to explore in detail the association between the use of injectable contraceptives and HIV infection.

Adult↗

A model for HIV in Asia.

A model is proposed in which the spread of HIV/AIDS in the community is mainly due to the sexual interaction between a core group of female prostitutes and young unmarried males. Several threshold parameters are obtained that determine persistence of endemic proportions, persistence of total population, and the persistence of infective population given the extinction of endemic proportions in a population tending to infinity. Conditions are given for the existence of multiple endemic equilibria as well as the existence of multiple stable equilibria with separatrix and their asymptotic behavior and biological significance are discussed. In all cases, global analysis is accompanied by bifurcation diagrams, and numerical examples are provided for some particular cases of interest. This model was proposed with the recent rapid growth of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Asia in mind.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Selling sex: female street prostitution and HIV risk behaviour in Glasgow.

Female prostitutes have often been seen as a major source of HIV infection. In this paper we report on a study of HIV-related risk behaviour among street prostitutes in Glasgow. This paper is based on street interviews using a standardized schedule with 68 women. We focus on the extent of HIV testing amongst the women, travel, the sexual services provided, the use of condoms with clients and private partners, and the extent of drug injecting and equipment sharing by the women. It is shown that female street prostitution within Glasgow is, at present, unlikely to be associated with significant heterosexual spread of HIV as most commercial sex is with a condom. However, some risk activities are continuing. Additionally, prostitutes report worrying rates of condom failure with clients. It is suggested that attention should switch away from an exclusive focus on women selling sexual services to target the men who purchase sex. These data indicate that much of the pressure for these women to provide unprotected sex comes from their clients.

AIDS Serodiagnosis↗

Biosocial factors influencing women to become prostitutes in India.

Based on materials collected during a study of risk factors associated with cervix cancer among prostitutes in Domjur, Howrah, West Bengal, this report explores various biosocial factors which may lead women to prostitution. When family and marital ties fail or disintegrate for various reasons, the life situations which a woman encounters may themselves generate a "process" of anchorlessness. The failure of family support along with the lack of ability to provide for themselves due to poverty and illiteracy were key factors why the women in this study had adopted prostitution.

Adult↗

A new HTLV type II subtype A isolate in an HIV type 1-infected prostitute from Cameroon, Central Africa.

Among 332 female sex workers in Douala, Cameroon, 113 were HIV-1 seropositive, 3 were HTLV-I seropositive, and only 1 had specific anti-HTLV-II antibodies. By cocultivation with BJAB cells, an HTLV-II was isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of this 32-year-old woman coinfected by HIV-1. This new African HTLV-II isolate (PH230PCAM) belongs to the molecular subtype A, exhibiting, however, a nucleotide variability of 2.4% and 0.8%, vis-à-vis the MO prototype, in the LTR and in the gp21 env gene, respectively. These data, as well as the previous findings of another HTLV-II subtype A in a Ghanean prostitute, suggest that this viral subtype had been imported into Africa, while the HTLV-II subtype B, described in remote areas of Zaire, Gabon, and Cameroon, could be a genuine African HTLV-II, present in this continent for a long period of time.

Adult↗

Transition dynamics of HIV disease in a cohort of African prostitutes: a Markov model approach.

The progression of HIV-related disease from infection to death is represented as a staged Markov model. Transitions between stages are considered reversible. The model is fitted to data from a cohort of African prostitutes by means of maximum likelihood. It appears that the progression to symptomatic disease (Centers for Disease Control stage IV) in this population is considerably more rapid than that reported from studies in Western countries.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

HIV-1 infection among non-intravenous drug user female prostitutes in Spain. No evidence of evolution to pattern II.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of HIV-1 infection among non-intravenous drug user (IVDU) female prostitutes in Spain and to determine risk factors for HIV-1 infection in this population. DESIGN: Cross-sectional seroepidemiological study of 519 non-IVDU prostitutes. SETTING: Four university hospitals. METHODS: All participants completed a questionnaire and provided a serum sample. Serum samples were tested for antibodies against HIV-1, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Treponema pallidum. RESULTS: Twelve out of the 519 (2.31%) participants were HIV-1-seropositive. HIV-1 infection was associated with the presence of both HCV and T. pallidum antibodies, multiple sex partners, longer history of prostitution, history of genital ulcers and anal intercourse. Condom use was associated with HIV-1 seronegativity. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HIV-1 infection in non-IVDU prostitutes in Spain remains relatively low. Risk increases with a higher rate of sexual exposure and practices such as anal intercourse and unprotected coitus.

Adolescent↗

HIV and HTLV-I infections in the Americas: a regional perspective.

With over 143,000 cases of AIDS reported to the World Health Organization from 145 countries and with an estimated 5 to 10 million people worldwide infected with HIV, AIDS has become firmly established as a global pandemic. In the region of the Americas over 100,862 cases of AIDS have been reported with indigenous transmission documented in 45 to 46 countries. While North America has the highest annual number of AIDS cases per population, with 72 cases/million, the Caribbean subregion has a disproportionately high number of cases, with annual rates as high as 200 to 300 cases/million population for some countries. Despite differences in absolute number of cases, there has been a remarkable similarity in the temporal rate of increase of AIDS in the countries of the Americas, reflecting delayed introduction of the virus to some areas with an early exponential increase similar to that observed initially in the United States. Although the modes of transmission of HIV are the same throughout the region, evidence of increasing bisexual and heterosexual transmission, particularly in the Caribbean subregion, has resulted in a lower male-to-female ratio of AIDS cases and increased perinatal transmission. Clinically, a resurgence of diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, and tuberculosis has been documented in association with HIV infection in many tropical countries of the Americas. With relatively high rates of HTLV-I infection already established in the Caribbean subregion, the overall public health problems of the Americas will be markedly potentiated by further spread of these 2 human retroviruses. If HIV infection continues to penetrate the poor and less advantaged populations in Latin America and the Caribbean, the potential exists for a massive epidemic in the Americas that may rapidly parallel the situation in Africa.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Diversity in virus populations from genital secretions and peripheral blood from women recently infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

In order to develop a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 vaccine with global efficacy, it is important to evaluate the virus populations that are transmitted to individuals living in high-incidence areas. To determine the nature of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 population transmitted to women during heterosexual contact, we examined the diversity of the proviral envelope gene in infected cells in both genital secretions and peripheral blood from six recently seroconverted Kenyan women. Heterogeneous virus populations were present in cervical secretions and/or peripheral blood shortly after seroconversion for five of six infected individuals, and tissue-specific variants were identified in several cases.

AIDS Vaccines↗

Nonoxynol-9 use, genital ulcers, and HIV infection in a cohort of sex workers.

OBJECTIVES: To measure the associations between use of nonoxynol-9 (N-9) and incidence of genital ulcers, and incident ulcers and HIV seroconversion. METHODS: In a study of barrier contraceptive use and HIV infection, 273 female sex workers used condoms and 100 mg N-9 suppositories, and recorded sexual activity on coital logs. Genital ulcers were diagnosed clinically at monthly clinic visits. HIV infection was diagnosed by ELISA and Western blot. We calculated ulcer incidence rates by level of N-9 use. A nested matched case-control analysis assessed the effect of ulcers on HIV acquisition. RESULTS: More frequent N-9 use was not associated with genital ulcers and may have been protective against the lesions. Ulceration was not a strong risk factor for HIV acquisition in this study (odds ratio 1.1; 95% confidence interval 0.3-3.5). CONCLUSIONS: Frequent use of N-9 can cause genital irritation and ulceration. Ulcers, in turn, may be risk factors for HIV acquisition. This study, however, did not find an association between N-9 use and ulcers, nor between ulcers and HIV. There is probably a threshold of N-9 use frequency or dose below which the risk of ulceration is minimal. Ulcers due to infectious causes may have been prevented by N-9 use in this cohort.

Adult↗

Human immunodeficiency virus infection and syphilis in Hondurian female prostitutes.

The seroprevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and syphilis was investigated in 181 female prostitutes in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. One particle agglutination test and two enzyme immunoassays, as well as one immunofluorescence test were used for the screening of HIV antibodies. Confirmation of positive results by the screening tests was carried out by Western blot. The prevalence of HIV seropositivity was 4% (8 women). Specific treponemal antibodies were found in 50% (90/181) of the prostitutes as judged by Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay (TPHA) and/or fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorption (FTA-ABSIgG) test. As estimated by the positivity of any or both non-treponemal tests (VDRL and RPR), a total of 31 (17%) out of the 181 women had active syphilis. A good correlation was found between the results obtained by TPHA and FTA-ABSIgG. IgM antibodies were found in 72% of sera positive by TPHA and/or FTA-ABSIgG. Four out of the 181 women were found to have antibodies to both HIV and Treponema pallidum.

Female↗