Hospital based epidemiology of HIV-1 in Bangalore, India
Muralidharan, S.; Kudva, I.; Raj, I.S.; Srinivasa, H.; Ray, S.; Jayanthi, A.; Damodar, P.
Virus Information Exchange Newsletter for South-East Asiaand the Western Pacific 9(2): 57
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0813-5444 PMID: 12286958 Document Number: 329280
Of more than 1 million people screened in serosurveillance centers across India, more than 6000 have been found to be infected with HIV. Bombay, Madras, and Manipur are the 3 epicenters of pandemic viral spread. The majority of infected individuals in southern India are in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra states. HIV-1serology was, however, added to the center in Karnataka state amid reports of rising HIV seroprevalence. St. John's Medical College Hospital is in Bangalore, a rapidly growing city of the state. An ongoing study began screening high-risk groups and blood donors for seroprevalence to HIV in March, 1989. This report presents findings based upon the first 3 years of the study. In all, sera from 26,236 voluntary blood donors and 1364 high-risk group patients were screened with ELISA. 26 seropositives were identified, 17 of which were from Bangalore city and its suburbs; the others were from semi-urban environments. Quite a few were unaware of HIV infection and its implications. Most seropositives were males aged 20-40 years thought to have contracted HIV from heterosexual intercourse, although one admitted to homosexuality. Further, many are frequent travellers due to the nature of their jobs. Of the blood donors, none was seropositive in 1989, 1 in 1990, and 15 in 1992; a similar trend was observed among the high-risk group patients. These findings point to the as-yet modest, but growing, entry of HIV into populations in and around Bangalore. Continuous serosurveillance and vigorous health education of the population are required to stem further HIV infection.