Prevalence and Correlates of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Among Female Sex Workers in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

The authors conducted a cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence of and correlates to HIV infection among female sex workers in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Women participants completed a questionnaire and HIV testing between April 2003 and March 2004. Logistic regression analyses determined correlation of variables to HIV infection.

Of 448 women, 10 percent (45) had HIV. Infection was associated with ever injecting drugs (AOR = 20.20; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 7.69-53.07), street-based sex work (AOR = 4.52; 95 percent CI, 1.84-11.12), exchanging sex for drugs (AOR = 4.74; 95 percent CI, 1.84-12.18) and more sexually transmitted infection treatments in the preceding three months (AOR = 2.43; 95 percent CI, 1.14-5.17).

"Although injection drug use is the strongest correlate to HIV infection, sexual risk behaviors are independently related and should receive focus in prevention efforts targeted to this population," the authors concluded.

Back to other news for August 2, 2006