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Partner notification highly effective at finding new HIV cases, but a third who could be tested are missed
Gus Cairns, 2013-11-23 17:50:00

Systematically contacting and notifying the sexual partners of people newly diagnosed with HIV is a highly efficient way of detecting previously undiagnosed cases of HIV, an audit conducted by the British HIV Association (BHIVA) and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) has found.

The proportion of contacts of newly diagnosed people who also had HIV was 21%, rising to 26.5% if the newly diagnosed person was their regular partner, Dr Michael Rayment of London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital told the 2013 BHIVA Autumn Conference in London.

Of 1399 notified partners of diagnosed people, 293 had HIV but, Dr Rayment added, if all at-risk partners had been contacted and tested, it is estimated that this figure would rise by nearly 50%, to 431 cases.

Source:1