Comparative study of human immunodeficiency virus infection in 2005 and 2015 in a hospital of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a major global public health problem. It is expected that by 2020, 90 % of people with HIV will be diagnosed, that 90 % of them will be under treatment, and that 90 % of these will have undetectable levels of viral load. It is important to find out the current situation of these cases and the number of diagnostic requests in our environment, and to compare these data with those of previous years.
Objective: To study the number of requests for an HIV test and positive cases in the population of a hospital in La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2005 and 2015, according to the age and sex of the patient and requesting service.
Materials and methods: Retrospective descriptive study. Data of age and sex of the patients, requesting service and number of requests made in 2005 and 2015 were collected. Diagnosis was made according to the existing algorithms in each year. Percentages of results were calculated in Excel 2010. Results: The total number of requests for an HIV
test and positive results were 818 and 14 (1.71 %), respectively in 2005 and 1830 and 31 (1.69 %), respectively in 2015. The main requesting services in both years were Medical Clinics, Nephrology, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Infectology and Dermatology. In 2005, 441 were men and 377 women, of whom 10 and 4 were positive. In 2015, 886 were men and 944 women, of whom 24 and 7 were positive.
Discussion: In the 10