 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
William Jones, MPH1, Delbert Williams, PhD1, and Jean-Marie Maillard, MD2. (1) HIV/STD Prevention & Care Branch, NC Division of Public Health/ Epidemiology Section, 1902 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1902, 919-733-9603, bill.jones@ncmail.net, (2) General Communicable Disease Branch, NC Divison of Public Health/ Epidemiology Section, 1902 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699
Background: HIV/STD prevention programs and clinicians need comprehensive information about persons at risk of contracting more than one sexually transmitted disease to prevent subsequent infections.
Objective: Match HIV/AIDS case reports with other morbidity reports to identify individuals who have been diagnosed and reported with HIV and other STDs.
Methods: Case level information was extracted from the respective surveillance systems for cases of HIV/AIDS, early syphilis, and hepatitis B (chronic and acute). An algorithm was developed to create a unique identifier for each person within the respective data sets. The data sets were then cross-matched to identify persons in multiple data sets.
Results: Of the 24,635 persons reported with HIV/AIDS in NC as of December 31,2002, 302 were matched to individuals reported with early syphilis from 1998 to 2002 (5,433 reports) and 828 were matched to individuals reported with hepatitis B from 1990 to 2001 (12,186 reports). Preliminary comparisons of these matched individuals indicate that they are significantly different (p <.05) from the larger HIV/AIDS population with respect to race, sex and risk.
Conclusions: Using existing surveillance data sets, one can successfully identify and describe individuals reported with multiple STDs. These individuals likely represent difficult-to-reach risk populations.
Implications for Programs/Research: Identifying difficult-to-reach populations can improve the targeting of HIV prevention efforts and improve their effectiveness in partner notification, street outreach and screening. Further, better describing individuals who contract syphilis or hepatitis B and are at high risk of subsequently contracting HIV or vice versa may also help improve clinical management.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: HIV/AIDS, STD
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.