HIV/AIDS: Research and Palliative Care (Mar 2024)

An Assessment of Trends in HIV-1 Prevalence and Incidence and Spatio-Temporal Analyses of HIV-1 Recent Infection Among MSM During the Surveillance Period Between 2018 and 2022 in Sichuan, China

  • Yang H,
  • Chen M,
  • Hu Y,
  • Xu M,
  • Li Y,
  • Liu L,
  • Yuan D,
  • Yuan F,
  • Li L,
  • Ye L,
  • Zhou C,
  • Zhang Y,
  • Liang S,
  • Su L

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 83 – 93

Abstract

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Hong Yang,1 Maogang Chen,2 Ying Hu,1 Mengjiao Xu,1 Yiping Li,1 Lunhao Liu,1 Dan Yuan,1 Fengshun Yuan,1 Ling Li,1 Li Ye,1 Chang Zhou,1 Yan Zhang,1 Shu Liang,1 Ling Su1 1Department of AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, Sichuan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Microbiology, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Xichang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Shu Liang; Ling Su, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Men who have sex with men (MSM) is one main type of high-risk activities facilitating HIV-1 transmission in Sichuan province. Previous works on HIV-1 incidence and prevalence among MSM only concentrated before 2018, the situation after that is unknown. In addition, the distribution of hot-spots related to current HIV-1 epidemic is also rarely known among MSM in Sichuan.Objective: To update trends of HIV-1 prevalence and incidence and to visualize hot-spots of ongoing transmission in Sichuan province during surveillance period among MSM between 2018 and 2022.Methods: Limiting Antigen Avidity assay was performed to detect recent infection within new HIV-1 diagnoses founded during surveillance period among MSM. The HIV-1 prevalence and incidence were calculated according to an extrapolation method proposed by publications and guidelines. Trend tests were performed using χ2 tests with linear-by-linear association. The spatial analysis was conducted with ArcGIS 10.7 to figure hot-spots of HIV-1 recent infections among MSM.Results: Between 2018 and 2022, 16,697 individuals participated in HIV-1 MSM sentinel surveillance program, of which 449 samples (98.25%) were tested with LAg-Avidity EIA, and 230 samples were classified as recent infection. Respectively, the overall prevalence and incidence were 2.74% and 3.69% (95% CI: 3.21, 4.16) and both had significant declining trends (p < 0.001). Luzhou city had a highest HIV-1 incidence (10.74%, 95% CI: 8.39, 13.10) over the study period and was recognized as a hot-spot for recent HIV-1 infection among MSM.Conclusion: During the surveillance period, both HIV-1 prevalence and incidence were declining. However, Luzhou city had an unusually high HIV-1 incidence and became an emerging hot-spot of recent HIV-1 infection among MSM. This finding suggested focused attention, cross-regional intervention strategies, and prevention programs are urgently required to curb the spread of ongoing transmission.Keywords: human immunodeficiency virus type 1, HIV-1 recent infection, incidence, hot-spots, men who have sex with men

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