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Identifying People with Acute HIV Infection: Demographic Features, Risk Factors, and Use of Health Care among Individuals with AHI in North Carolina

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Abstract

Identifying and counseling individuals with Acute HIV Infection (AHI) offers a critical opportunity to avert preventable HIV transmission, however, opportunities to recognize these individuals may be missed. We surveyed 32 adults diagnosed with AHI during voluntary HIV testing from 1/1/03 to 2/28/05 in publicly funded testing sites in NC to describe their clinical, social, and behavioral characteristics. Eighty-one percent of participants were men; 59% were African American. Seventy-five percent experienced symptoms consistent with acute retroviral syndrome; although 83% sought medical care for these symptoms, only 15% were appropriately diagnosed at that initial medical visit, suggesting opportunities to diagnose these individuals earlier were missed. Eighty-five percent of the men engaged in sex with men. More than 50% of the participants thought they were infected with HIV by a steady partner. This study yields important information to assist in identifying populations at risk for or infected with AHI and designing both primary and secondary prevention interventions.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a Developmental Grant from the University of North Carolina Center for AIDS Research (CFAR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Infectious Disease, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 130 Mason Farm Road, CB #7030, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Lisa B. Hightow-Weidman & Peter A. Leone

  2. Health Care and Prevention Division, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Carol E. Golin & Eva N. P. Shaw

  3. Center for AIDS Research Social and Behavioral Core, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Carol E. Golin & Kelly Green

  4. Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Pia D. M. MacDonald

  5. HIV-STD Prevention and Care Branch, North Carolina Division of Public Health, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Peter A. Leone

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  1. Lisa B. Hightow-Weidman
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  2. Carol E. Golin
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Correspondence to Lisa B. Hightow-Weidman.

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Hightow-Weidman, L.B., Golin, C.E., Green, K. et al. Identifying People with Acute HIV Infection: Demographic Features, Risk Factors, and Use of Health Care among Individuals with AHI in North Carolina. AIDS Behav 13, 1075–1083 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-008-9519-5

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