Most Testing HIV-Positive Willing to Tell Partners: Survey

Most people who test positive for HIV are willing and able to contact their sex partners to inform them, researchers report in the August edition of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (2202;29:465-471). In 1998, New York State legislators mandated partner notification for people newly diagnosed with HIV, noted Dr. Alex Carballo-Dieguez of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and colleagues.

The researchers surveyed nearly 1,400 people who underwent HIV test counseling at one of 14 New York City Department of Health STD Control Program sites. Between January and May 2000, just before the notification law went into effect, 1,372 individuals (11 percent of clients seeking testing) completed the survey.

Of those who reported having unprotected sex during the previous two months and who supplied information on their ability to contact partners, only 4 percent of women who had sex with men reported that they would be unable to do so. The corresponding proportions were 8 percent of men who had sex with women and 18 percent of men who had sex with men. More than 94 percent of respondents also said they would contact at least one partner on his or her own. Ethnicity did not affect willingness to contact partners or to give information to the DOH. However, heterosexual men were significantly more likely than men who have sex with men to give information to the department.

According to published reports, not all HIV-infected individuals notify current or past sex partners, Carballo-Dieguez and his colleagues write. Therefore, the form of partner notification they recommend is "contract referral." In this scenario, the person is encouraged to notify his or her partner within a certain amount of time, but if he or she does not, the health care provider will.

"Before the partner notification law passed, there were a lot of questions. Will people continue to be tested confidentially, or will they avoid testing?" asked Drew De Los Reyes, director of the David Geffen Center for HIV Prevention and Health Education at Gay Men's Health Crisis. "We saw no drop in numbers at all. As a matter of fact, we've seen a slight increase in the numbers being tested, with a return rate of over 99 percent."

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