AEGiS-11IAC: An HIV point prevalence study among truck drivers at Uluberia, West Bengal.

11th International AIDS Conference


Vancouver, British Columbia — July 7-12, 1996

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An HIV point prevalence study among truck drivers at Uluberia, West Bengal.

Int Conf AIDS 1996 Jul 7-12; 11:456 (abstract no. Pub.C.1111)
Mistry S, Misra K, Rao A, Dey A, Verma K, Islam A; Bhoruka Public Welfare Trust, Calcutta, India. Fax: 033-225-2421.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the HIV Point Prevalence rate among truck drivers at Uluberia checkpost in West Bengal.

METHODS: About 2ml of blood was collected from 500 truck drivers & helpers (Oct'94 - Dec'94) at the centre. About 525 truckers were approached, out of which 500 agreed. Blood was screened for HIV antibody by ELISA and reactive samples were reconfirmed by second ELISA & Western Blot test. Unlinked anonymous testing procedure was strictly followed. Results:Twenty six samples were found to be ELISA reactive and confirmed by second ELISA & Western Blot test.

CONCLUSIONS: HIV Point Prevalence rate is high among truck drivers & helpers - 5.2%. Multipartner sex being common among truck drivers and helpers (from our earlier study reports), there is risk of transmission of HIV to their spouses and other sexual partners. There are about 2 to 5 million intercity truck drivers in India. A seropositivity rate of 5.2% leads to 1,04,000 to 2,60,000 HIV-positive truck drivers and helpers at this particular time.

Keywords: AEGIS, Cross-Sectional Studies, HIV Infections, Occupations, Prevalence, HIV Antibodies, Blotting, Western, India, transmission, blood, ICA11KWDaegis,cross-sectionalstudies,hivinfections,occupations,prevalence,hivantibodies,blotting,western,india,transmission,blood,ica11

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