Results of examination of pregnant women’s sexual partners for HIV infection: The experience of the Sverdlovsk Region

Objective. To substantiate the need for examining pregnant women’s sexual partners for HIV infection. Materials and methods. Examinations were made in 2013-2015, by using retrospective and prospective follow-ups, epidemiological, clinical and economic analyses, and statistical methods. Results. The HIV seronegative window period during pregnancy and the subsequent breastfeeding were a cause of the infection in 22.5% (95% CI 19.12-25.9%) of babies. 46.3% (95% CI 46.09-46.5%) of the pregnant women’s sexual partners were examined for 3 years. The HIV infection detection rate among the partners was 1.7 times higher than that in the pregnant women and 1.5 times higher than that observed during routine screening. Viral loads indicate that there is a risk for sexual transmission of HIV from a male to a pregnant female and that there is a risk for perinatal HIV transmission to a baby. When HIV infection was detected, the sexual partners were followed up in 94.1% (95% CI 91.9-96.37%) of cases; 105 [26.1% (95% CI 21.8-30.4%)] people had indications for antiretroviral therapy. The proportion of HIV-infected pregnant women when their sexual partners were diagnosed with this disease was 1.1% ( 95% CI 0.21-1.87%), that of infected children was 0.23% (95% CI 0.22-0.69%). The annual expenses on examinations of pregnant women’s sexual partners were justified at year 2. Implementation of this direction of work in maternal and child health services requires that the normative legal base should be improved and the additional performance indicators of the efficiency of the service be determined. Conclusion. The results suggest that it is necessary to examine pregnant women’s sexual partners for HIV infection and to improve the normative legal base to detect and prevent HIV infection.

HIV detection, pregnant women’s sexual partners, perinatal prophylaxis, viral load, antiretroviral therapy