Frequency of Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) Infections at Tertiary Care Hospital of Karachi from 2017-2019

Abstract

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the world’s most serious health problem. Pakistan is included among high prevalent countries and two outbreaks of HIV have been reported one in 2018, in Sargodha (Kot Momin) and the other largest so far in 2019 in Larkana, first time infecting children as well. Therefore, a study was designed to find out the frequency as well as risk factors involved in the transmission of HIV.

Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study (n=28,679), conducted in the Microbiology laboratory of Dow Diagnostic Reference and Research Laboratory (DDRRL), Karachi, Pakistan from 1^st January 2017 to 31^st December 2019. Serum samples were screened for the presence of HIV antigen and antibody by using HIV combo ARCHITECT i2000 SR, chemiluminescent immunoassay (CMIA). The Chi-square was used to analyze the data and a p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The total HIV-positive samples were 198 (0.69%). The mean age was 30.39 ± 10.1 with a predominance of males 158 (79.8%) followed by females 39(19.7%) and trans-genders 1(0.5%). The most prevalent ethnic background was Sindhi 40(20.2%) followed by Urdu speaking 32(16.2%). The major risk factors were sexual contact (25%) and surgical procedure (13%). The research found the highest incidence reported in Malir District (17.12%) followed by East (13.63%) and West (11.6%) of Karachi. The most significant association (p<0.001) of HIV was found with age.

Conclusion: The male population from the Malir district of Sindhi ethnicity had a high frequency of HIV. Moreover, sexual contact and surgical procedures were found major risk factors for HIV.

Keywords: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV); Risk Factors; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Epidemic.