title: Clinical screening for HIV in a health centre setting in urban Kenya: an entry point for voluntary counselling, HIV testing and early diagnosis of HIV infection?
abstract: A study was conducted among patients attending a public health centre in Nairobi, Kenya in order to (a) verify the prevalence of HIV, (b) identify clinical risk factors associated with HIV and (c) determine clinical markers for clinical screening of HIV infection at the health centre level. Of 304 individuals involved in the study,107(35%) were HIV positive. A clinical screening algorithm based on four clinical markers, namely oral thrush, past or present TB, past or present herpes zoster and prurigo would pick out 61 (57%) of the 107 HIV-positive individuals. In a resource-poor setting, introducing a clinical screening algorithm for HIV at the health centre level could provide an opportunity for targeting voluntary counselling and HIV testing, and early access to a range of prevention and care interventions.
authors.affiliation: Médecins Sans Frontières, Mission Kenya, Brussels Operational Centre, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arendt
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mossong
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zachariah
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Inwani
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Farah
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Waelbrouck
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fonck
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D003376:Counseling; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D019037:Urban Health Services; D035141:Voluntary Programs