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KMID : 1120220120030040245
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Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives
2012 Volume.3 No. 4 p.245 ~ p.249
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Immune Status and Epidemiological Characteristics of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Seroconverters in Korea, 1999?2009
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Wang Jin-Sook
Kim Na-Young
Sim Hyo-Jung
Choi Byeong-Sun
Kee Mee-Kyung
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Abstract
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Objectives: 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.
Method: 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.
Conclusion: 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.
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KEYWORD
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CD4 T-cell count, HIV, seroconverter
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