title: HIV counseling and testing in a tertiary care hospital in Ganjam district, Odisha, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) counseling and testing (HCT) conducted at integrated counseling and testing centers (ICTCs) is an entry point, cost-effective intervention in preventing transmission of HIV.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the prevalence of HIV among ICTC attendees, sociodemographic characteristics, and risk behaviors of HIV-seropositive clients.
  
  
  METHODS
  It was hospital record-based cross-sectional study of 26,518 registered ICTC clients at a tertiary care hospital in Ganjam district, Odisha, India over a 4-year period from January 2009 to September 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1732 (7.5%) out of 22,897 who were tested for HIV were seropositive. Among HIV-seropositives, 1138 (65.7%) were males, while 594 (34.3%) were females. Majority (88.3%) of seropositives were between the age group of 15-49 years. Client-initiated HIV testing (12.1%) was more seropositive compared to provider-initiated (2.9%). Among discordant couples, majority (95.5%) were male partner/husband positive and female partner/wife negative. Positives were more amongst married, less educated, low socioeconomic status, and outmigrants (P<0.0001). Risk factors included heterosexual promiscuous (89.3%), parent-to-child transmission 5.8%, unknown 3.1%, infected blood transfusion 0.8%, homosexual 0.5%, and infected needles (0.5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is need to encourage activities that promote HCT in all health facilities. This will increase the diagnosis of new HIV cases. The data generated in ICTC provide an important clue to understand the epidemiology in a particular geographic region and local planning for care and treatment of those infected with HIV and preventive strategies for those at risk especially married, young adults, and outmigrants to reduce new infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur University, Berhampur, Odisha, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dash
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Padhi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sahu
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mohanty
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Panda
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Parida
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sahoo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003954:Diagnostic Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D037001:Directive Counseling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D063128:Tertiary Health Care; D055815:Young Adult