Achara Entz|Vipan Prachuabmoh Ruffolo|Vilai Chinveschakitvanich|Varda Soskolne|Frits van Griensven
HIV-1 prevalence, HIV-1 subtypes and risk factors among fishermen in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea
Chulalongkorn University|Hadassah Medical Center|Utrecht University
objective mobile populations thought high risk hiv1 infection study aims determine prevalence hiv1 infection hiv1 subtypes sociodemographic behavioural risk factors among fishermen gulf thailand andaman sea methods crosssectional survey consisting facetoface interviews collection oral fluid samples conducted samut sakorn ranong songkhla traat provinces thailand january april 1998 oral fluid samples doubletested hiv1 antibody igg antibody capture enzymelinked immunosorbent assay enzyme immunoassay confirmed western blot presence subtypes b e assessed using peptide enzyme immunoassay results 818 fishermen 582 thai 137 burmese 99 khmer 155 hiv1 positive 146 among thai 161 among burmese 202 among khmer 119 hiv1 positive samples available subtyping 72 61 subtype e 15 13 subtype b subtype could determined 32 27 samples sixteen per cent subjects ever visited commercial sex worker outside thailand behaviour prevalent among khmer 40 among thai burmese 12 univariate logistic regression analysis 25 32 years age compared older younger working fisherman 4 10 years compared working shorter longer period unmarried steersman mechanic compared skipper ship hand greater number visits commercial sex workers visited commercial sex worker outside thailand alcohol drug use sex tattooed history sexually transmitted disease significantly related prevalent hiv1 infection maletomale sex injection drug use rarely reported population multivariate analysis 25 32 years age unmarried tattoo greater number visits commercial sex workers remained model predict hiv1 prevalence history drug injection predictive infection hiv1 subtype b conclusions findings indicate high hiv1 prevalence among fishermen gulf thailand andaman sea risk factor analysis suggests heterosexual intercourse major mode transmission population increased efforts reduce spread hiv1 among epidemiologically important group urgently needed