| pubmed-article:9376101 | pubmed:otherAbstract | PIP: An analysis of annual sentinel surveillance data from Viet Nam indicates that Ho Chi Minh City is at the forefront of a new HIV epidemic. Since 1990, data on HIV cases have been collected from prenatal clinics, blood banks, centers for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and tuberculosis, and rehabilitation centers for injecting drug users and commercial sex workers. The first HIV case in Viet Nam was reported in 1990 in Ho Chi Minh City. By the end of 1996, a cumulative total of 4961 HIV cases had been documented in Viet Nam, 2774 of which were in Ho Chi Minh City. In Ho Chi Minh City, 86.5% of cumulative HIV infections involved men. The distribution of total HIV cases by group has been: injecting drug users, 86.0%; tuberculosis patients, 3.3%; sex workers, 2.5%; STD patients, 2.5%; and pregnant women, 0.6%. By 1996, 42 of Viet Nam's 53 provinces had reported HIV cases and infection rates are rising dramatically in border areas near China and Cambodia. The pattern documented in this analysis resembles that observed in Thailand a decade ago: rapidly rising HIV rates among injecting drug users and infection already established among sex workers, without dissemination to the general population. The necessary infrastructure and resources for control of the epidemic are far more limited in Viet Nam than Thailand, however. Recommended, to prevent the further spread of HIV in Viet Nam, are educational activities targeted at injecting drug users and sex workers outside of rehabilitation centers, the availability of condoms and sterile needles, establishment of anonymous testing sites, control of STDs, and the coordination of programs within southeast Asia. | lld:pubmed |
