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. 2018 Apr 4;13(4):e0195431.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195431. eCollection 2018.

HIV prevalence by ethnic group covaries with prevalence of herpes simplex virus-2 and high-risk sex in Uganda: An ecological study

Chris R Kenyon  1   2
Affiliations

HIV prevalence by ethnic group covaries with prevalence of herpes simplex virus-2 and high-risk sex in Uganda: An ecological study

Chris R Kenyon. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: HIV prevalence varies from 1.7% to 14.8% between ethnic groups in Uganda. Understanding the factors responsible for this heterogeneity in HIV spread may guide prevention efforts.

Methods: We evaluated the relationship between HIV prevalence by ethnic group and a range of risk factors as well as the prevalence of herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2), syphilis and symptomatic STIs in the 2004/2005 Uganda HIV/AIDS Sero-Behavioural Survey-a two stage, nationally representative, population based survey of 15-59-year-olds. Spearman's correlation was used to assess the relationship between HIV prevalence and each variable.

Results: There was a positive association between HIV prevalence and HSV-2, symptomatic STIs and high-risk sex (sex with a non-cohabiting, non-marital partner) for women. Non-significant positive associations were present between HIV and high-risk sex for men and lifetime number of partners for men and women.

Conclusion: Variation in sexual behavior may contribute to the variations in HIV, HSV-2 and other STI prevalence by ethnic group in Uganda. Further work is necessary to delineate which combinations of risk factors determine differential STI spread in Uganda.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Association between adult HIV prevalence (15–49 years) and HSV-2 prevalence (a) syphilis prevalence (b), percent with STI symptoms in past year in men (c) and women (d) in the 2004/2005 Uganda HIV/AIDS Sero-Behavioural Survey. All data are by ethnic group and limited to those 15–49 years old.
Fig 2
Fig 2
Association between adult HIV prevalence (15–49 years) and high-risk sex in men (a) and women (b), mean number of lifetime partners for men (c) and women (d), percent reporting multiple partners in past year for men (e) and women (f) and circumcision prevalence (g) in the 2004/2005 Uganda HIV/AIDS Sero-Behavioural Survey. All data are by ethnic group and limited to those 15–49 years old.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Map of Uganda showing the distribution of ethnolinguistic groups.
Reprinted from [46] under a CC BY license, with permission from Mark Dingemanse, original copyright 2005.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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