Epidemiology of HIV infection among prostitutes in the Philippines.
Between 1985 and 1987, examinations for human immune deficiency virus (HIV) antibody were done on 25,392 prostitutes working in 64 cities throughout the Philippines. The country-wide seropositivity rate among prostitutes based on this sample was 0.8/1,000. Of the HIV cases, 85% were working in just two cities whose prostitute populations comprised 50% of the total sample. The average incidence rate for the same two cities after 1 year was 2.3/1,000. HIV antibody-positive women were enrolled in a case-control study to determine demographic and epidemiologic risk factors. This study involving 34 HIV-positive prostitutes and 61 randomly selected negative control prostitutes did not reveal any risk factors related to sexual or other types of behavior. A history of genital warts, a history of abnormal vaginal discharge, and cytomegalovirus antibody were significantly more frequent in the HIV-positive cases than in the controls; however, by logistic regression analysis, only an abnormal vaginal discharge was independently associated with HIV infection. Absence of any evidence of transmission by blood transfusion or i.v. drug abuse suggests that HIV was introduced by the heterosexual route.
Hayes
C G
CG
U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2, Manila, Philippines.
Manaloto
C R
CR
Basaca-Sevilla
V
V
Padre
L P
LP
Laughlin
L W
LW
O'Rourke
T F
TF
Espinosa
G E
GE
Andrada
A B
AB
Mejia
P
P
Cano
D
D
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D010679:Philippines / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D011477:Sex Work; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology