[First year experience with a system of mandatory reporting of HIV-positive cases in Denmark]

Abstract

During the period 1. Aug. 1990 to 31. July 1991, a total of 87,779 HIV-tests were carried out in Denmark on individuals other than blood donors according to the laboratory notification system. Of these 853 were HIV-positive which corresponds to a HIV prevalence of 0.97%. During the same period, 602 persons were notified by doctors as HIV-positive, corresponding to a percentage of notifications of 70. Out of the 602 persons, 84 were repetitions. The sex of two persons was not stated. Further 164 (36%) were previously found to be HIV-positive. Thus there remained 332 (64%) persons who could be classified as positive for the first time. In the material of HIV-positive individuals for the first time, 79% were men and 21% women. The mean age for men was 36 years and 26 years for women (p less than 0.001). 66% of the men were estimated to be infected by homosexual contact, 19% by heterosexual contact and 9% by intravenous drug use. Nineteen of the heterosexually infected men (39%) stated that they had been infected by a woman from a high-endemic region, three by a female drug user and 24 (49%) did not know the source of infection. Thirty of the heterosexually infected women (63%) were considered to be infected by a man from a high-endemic region and 21 of these women were born and had grown up in this region. Six of the women (13%) were considered to have been infected by a bisexual man and eight (17%) by a man without known risk behaviour. HIV-positive persons were notified from all Danish counties, including 57% from Greater Copenhagen. The geographical distribution is not identical for the two sexes. For men, 63% were from Greater Copenhagen and 14% from Jutland while the corresponding distribution for women were 35% and 28% (p = 0.001).