HIV infection in Egypt: a two and a half year surveillance

From April 1986 to mid-October 1988, 19,767 blood samples from individuals of 27 Governorates in Egypt were screened for antibodies to HIV-1. Risk groups included: drug addicts, prostitutes, patients with sexually transmitted diseases or fever of unknown origin, blood or blood product recipients, patients with mental disorders, and contacts of HIV-infected persons. Sera from routine blood donors and foreigners were also tested. All samples which reacted repeatedly by commercial ELISAs were assessed by Western blot (DuPont) for confirmation. Results indicated that 139 (0.70%) of the sera produced repeatedly reactive results by ELISA. Sixty-nine of these were confirmed by Western blot as HIV seropositive. This constituted 0.35% of the total population tested. Only 26 (0.15%) of the Egyptians tested were positive and a total of seven sero-positive individuals were classified as having clinical AIDS. All Egyptian blood donors were negative. Data generated during this 2.5-year HIV serosurvey indicate that the prevalence of confirmed HIV infection in Egypt was exceptionally low, and suggest that HIV is not endemic in Egypt, since all 26 sero-positive Egyptians were linked to HIV exposure abroad.