Palanivel C, Kumar AMV, Mahalakshmi T, Govindarajan S, Claassens M, Satyanarayana S, Gurumurthy D, Vasudevan K, Purty A, Paulraj AK, Raman KV. Uptake of HIV testing and HIV positivity among presumptive tuberculosis patients at Puducherry, South India.
Public Health Action 2015;
3:220-3. [PMID:
26393033 DOI:
10.5588/pha.13.0045]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2013] [Accepted: 07/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
SETTING
Puducherry, a district in South India with a low prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (<1% among antenatal women).
OBJECTIVES
1) To estimate the proportion of patients with known HIV status who were HIV-positive, 2) to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with unknown HIV status among presumptive TB patients, and 3) to assess the additional workload at HIV testing centres.
DESIGN
In this cross-sectional study, consecutive presumptive TB patients attending microscopy centres for diagnosis during March-May 2013 were asked if they knew their HIV status. Patients with unknown HIV status were offered voluntary counselling and HIV testing.
RESULTS
Of 1886 presumptive TB patients, HIV status was ascertained for 842 (44.6%); 28 (3.3%) were HIV-positive. The uptake of HIV testing was significantly higher in younger age groups, males, residents of Puducherry and smear-positive TB patients. The median increase in the number of clients tested for HIV per day per testing centre was 1 (range 0-6).
CONCLUSION
The uptake of HIV testing was low. HIV prevalence was higher among presumptive TB patients than in antenatal women, and as high as in TB patients. With minimal increase in workload at HIV testing centres, HIV testing could be implemented using existing resources.
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