CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASES AS COFACTORS FOR HIV-1 TRANSMISSION

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between infect ion with HIV-1 infection and a history of other sexually transmitted d iseases (STD). We were able to match 1295 HIV-1 infected patients who attended St Mary's Hospital between 1985 and 1991 with 1273 seronegati ve controls on gender, sexual orientation, injecting drug use and age at time of test. The cases were 3 times more likely to have a history of ever having had another STD than the controls: multivariate conditi onal logistic regression showed that, after controlling for sexual beh aviour, for known sexual contact with an HIV infected individual or AI DS patient or with a resident from a high HIV prevalence area, area of residence and for year of test, a history of gonorrhoea, syphilis, he patitis B, genital herpes or genital warts were all significantly asso ciated with HIV-1 seropositive status. These findings reinforce the ne ed for HIV containment strategies to be promoted in conjunction with c ontainment programmes for other STDs.