Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 2012 April, Vol-6(2): 195-197 195 195 ID: JCDR/2012/3375:2032 Profile of the Patients Who Attended the HIV Integrated Counseling and Testing Centre in a Teaching Hospital of Rajasthan, India Key Words: Human immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV), Acquired Immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) Integrated counseling and testing centre (ICTC), patient perception ABSTRACT Context: Community awareness is the simplest way to limit the spread of the human immunodeficiency (HIV) infection in the population. Objectives: To study the sociodemographic characteristics and the perception about the disease among the attendees of an HIV clinic. Material and Methods: It was a cross-sectional, questionnaire based, observational study which was conducted between years 2008 and 2011 at the integrated counseling and testing centre (ICTC) of a teaching hospital in Rajasthan, India. Results: Out of 7561 subjects who were screened, the seroprevalence of HIV was seen in 109 (1.44%) cases. More visits to the ICTC were made by males (5973) as compared to females (1588), but the positivity rate was higher among females (2.64%) than among males (1.12%). Among all the subjects, about 80% of the seropositives belonged to the age group 15-49 years, 38.5% were illiterate, and more than 30% of the positive cases were housewives. Heterosexual (92%) and vertical transmission (8%) were the only modes of transmission. Seropositivity was more prevalent among the subjects who belonged to the below poverty line (58.7%). More than half (52%) of the respondents considered the HIV infection to be preventable and three fourth (75.73%) had no objection in staying in the same house as the infected cases, whereas only 33.4% of them were comfortable in sharing food with the HIV patients. Two thirds of the attendees were aware of the role of barrier contraceptives in the prevention of the HIV infection. However, there was a lack of awareness about the government intervention programmes. Conclusion: The screening of females in the population needs to be strengthened, possibly by universal antenatal coverage. Despite the ongoing campaigns, there is a lack of appropriate awareness in the population and hence, there is a need of interventions which focus on the dissemination of information even to the most peripheral and unreached areas. INTRODUCTION India shares one tenth of the global HIV burden and an overall 65% is attributed to south and south east Asia [1]. As per the current estimates of Rajasthan State’s AIDS Control Society (RSACS), approximately 70,000 people in Rajasthan are living with HIV/AIDS, in which the confirmed cases are about 40,000, putting the state in the low prevalence category. The Integrated Counseling and Testing Centre (ICTC) provides information about the HIV prevention, counseling to undergo testing, it provides testing facilities and it also links the seropositive people with treatment, care and support systems [2]. The present study reveals the prevalence of the HIV prevalence pattern and the availability of ICTC services in our district. Moreover, this study was aimed at creating awareness and motivation for the optimum utilization of the available health services. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was carried out at the ICTC of a teaching hospital at Jhalawar, Rajasthan, from December 2008 to July 2011. It was a cross-sectional, questionnaire based, observational study which was carried out to assess the sociodemographic characteristics and the perception about the disease among the attendees of the ICTC. This study was approved by the institute’s ethics committee Original Article and a written informed consent was obtained from all the subjects. All the attendees were tested for HIV seropositivity (Comb Acids HIV Immunodot test kit, Span Diagnostics, India) and were then asked to fill a predesigned questionnaire. The information was entered by using Microsoft Office software and it was evaluated by using descriptive (‘t’ test) statistics. RESULTS Out of the 7561 attendees of ICTC, one hundred and nine (1.44%) were found to be seropositive. There were no positive cases for HIV 2. A rising positivity rate was observed during the initial period, with the highest number of seropositive cases being observed in 2009 (2.47%). However, this trend was found to reduce later [Table/Fig-1]. The distribution of the seropositive cases by their age, sex and relative prevalence among males and females are shown in [Table /Fig-2]. The seropositivity was more among males and female attendees (5973) were more in the ICTC as compared to females (1588), but the relative percentage of the positive cases was more in females (2.64%) than in males (1.12%). The maximum number of seropositive cases was seen in the age group of 25-34 years (males -29, 26.60% and females -17, 15.60%). Among the 10034 women who were screened during the antenatal checkups, 12 were Microbiology Section NIRAJ K. BISWAS, MANOJ K. SAURABH, ASHISH K. YADAV