title: Immune status and epidemiological characteristics of human immunodeficiency virus seroconverters in Korea, 1999-2009.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The detection of HIV seroconverters increased annually since HIV antigen/antibody testing kits have been available widely in South Korea. This study aimed to identify the epidemiological characteristics of HIV seroconverters and their immune level at HIV diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the epidemiological and immunological characteristics of 341 HIV seroconverters among 6,008 HIV-diagnosed individuals from 1999 and 2009. The analysis of immune level and epidemiological factors of HIV seroconverters was conducted by using chi-square test on SAS version 9.1.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The seroconverters among newly-identified HIV cases each year increased from 0.5% in 1999 to over 5% or in 2009. The sex ratio of seroconverters was 18:1 (male:female), and 33% were in their 30s, and 28% were in their 20s. Reasons for HIV testing were involvement in voluntary test due to risky behaviors (43%), and health check-up (36%). Discovery of HIV infection occurred primarily in hospitals (84%). Among seroconverters, 55 percent had a CD4 T-cell count of more than 350/μl.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Korean HIV seroconverters tended to be younger at diagnosis, diagnosed during a voluntary test, and their CD4+ T-cell counts at HIV diagnosis were higher than those of non-seroconverters aall HIV-infected individuals. This study of HIV seroconverters will be important foundational in future studies on HIV incidence, disease progress, and survival rate.
authors.affiliation: Division of AIDS, Korea National Institute of Health, Osong, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Sook
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Na-Young
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyo Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Sim
authors.forename: Byeong-Sun
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Mee-Kyung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Kee
keywords: CD4 T-cell count; HIV; seroconverter