HIV Infection Rate High Among Amazon Gold Miners

A research team has found a high rate of HIV prevalence among men working at a gold mining camp in Guyana, South America, with 6.5 percent testing positive for the virus. Lead author Dr. Carol J. Palmer of Nova Southeastern University in Florida said she and colleagues tested 216 Guyanese men between ages 18 and 35 working as gold miners in a mining camp. Fourteen of the men (6.5 percent) tested positive for HIV. The camp is located approximately 285 miles from the capital city of Georgetown.

The researchers published the study in Emerging Infectious Diseases (2002;8:330-331) and noted that theirs is the first study to look at the prevalence of HIV in Guyanese men, who will often leave their families for a few years to work in the relatively high-paying mining industry.

"In Guyana and other South American countries containing large tracts of Amazon jungle, few studies have investigated the prevalence of HIV infection in isolated communities," wrote Palmer. And both the isolation and the rates of infection "suggest enormous potential for further transmission of HIV in Guyana, in both jungle and urban environments," she said.

Aside from the concern for rising numbers of HIV infections, there are concerns, according to the researchers, for the high rate of malaria in the same areas -- more than 30,000 cases per year. Co-infection with HIV and malaria could exacerbate both conditions. "The high percentage of HIV infection in this population provides a reservoir for the disease in this region and warrants immediate public health interventions to curb its spread," they concluded.

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