Targeting of HIV pretest discussion and risk-reduction interventions in a low-prevalence setting

Genitourinary medicine clinic attendees who were newly diagnosed as HIV antibody positive in a population with low overall HIV prevalence were compared with HIV-ve control groups in a retrospective study. Demographics and clinical data from the clinic attendance at which the HIV test was performed were analysed. Of 25,627 HIV tests, 113 were positive. Seventy-eight percent had an identified risk factor for HIV and more than half had symptoms of, or were contacts of, a sexually transmitted infection (STI) or HIV. Only eight clients testing HIV+ve had attended for routine STI testing and only two of these had no identified risk factor. Groups shown to be at higher HIV risk included attendees with past history of STI, men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) and those requesting HIV test without an STI screen. MSM testing HIV-ve had high rates of HIV risk behaviour.