Rising HIV infection rates in Ho Chi Minh City herald emerging AIDS epidemic in Vietnam.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the epidemiology of HIV in Ho Chi Minh City in the context of current surveillance data from Vietnam.


METHODS
Since the late 1980s, HIV surveillance data have been collected in Ho Chi Minh City from centers for the treatment of venereal disease and tuberculosis, centers for the rehabilitation of injecting drug users and sex workers, prenatal clinics, blood banks and other sites.


RESULTS
The first case of HIV infection in Vietnam was identified in 1990 in Ho Chi Minh City. The cumulative number of reported HIV infections in this city at the end of 1996 was 2774, about half of the number of cases in the country; 86% of infections were among men, 86% among injecting drug users, 2.5% among patients with sexually transmitted diseases and 2.5% among sex workers. The first HIV infection among antenatal women was detected in 1994. The prevalence of HIV among injecting drug users rose dramatically from 1% in 1992 to 39% in 1996, compared with 1.2% among sex workers, 0.3% among blood donors and 1.3% among tuberculosis patients in 1996. The populations of injecting drug users and sex workers in Ho Chi Minh City are estimated to be 30000 and 80000, respectively, and rates of sexually transmitted diseases are 2-3 per 1000 persons per year. By the end of December 1996, 42 out of 53 provinces had reported HIV infections, and border areas near China and Cambodia began identifying large numbers of HIV-seropositive people.


CONCLUSIONS
Ho Chi Minh City is at the forefront of a new HIV epidemic in Vietnam. This epidemic shows similarities to that in Thailand nearly a decade ago, with rapidly rising HIV rates among injecting drug users and infection already established among sex workers. Prevention efforts should include the targeting of injecting drug users and sex workers outside rehabilitation centers, the availability of sterile needles and condoms, the establishment of anonymous testing sites, the control of sexually transmitted diseases and the coordination of programs within southeast Asia.
Lindan
C P
CP
University of California, San Francisco 94025, USA.
Lieu
T X
TX
Giang
L T
LT
Lap
V D
VD
Thuc
N V
NV
Thinh
T
T
Lurie
P
P
Mandel
J S
JS
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012309:Risk-Taking; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous; D014744:Vietnam / Q000453:epidemiology