An update on HIV-seroprevalence studies in the Netherlands.
Int Conf AIDS 1989 Jun 4-9; 5:176 (abstract no. A.593) Lumey LH, Houweling H, Jager JC; Natl Inst Publ Hlth Env Hyg (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands
Currently available data on HIV seroprevalence among selected groups in the Netherlands are inadequate to assess the spread of the epidemic among homosexual men, intravenous drug users or the population-at-large. So far, only volunteer studies have been conducted. Additional surveys are required: 1) to establish a base-line of infection levels in selected groups, 2) for public health management and policy, and 3) for modelling and prediction of the course of the epidemic. Various options for conducting such surveys are discussed, and existing blood collections and hospital samples are identified. Anonymous testing of some of these blood samples is proposed to eliminate the self-selection bias which renders studies comprised of voluntary participants uninterpretable. Some legal and ethical objections have been raised that so far have prevented anonymous testing in the Netherlands. There is no general agreement yet that anonymous testing is needed to collect information that otherwise would not be available, and that such testing is justifiable if anonymity of the data is assured. In the meantime seroprevalence studies with informed consent will be considered in preselected institutions, to document whether compliance is high enough for valid inferences to be made from such studies.
Keywords: AEGIS, HIV Seroprevalence, Substance Abuse, Intravenous, Homosexuality, Netherlands, Public Health, Confidentiality, Human, Male, ICA5
