HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases in a referral STD centre in south India.

Introduction, materials, and methods The relation between sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and risk of HIV infection has been a subject of increasing interest. Hence, the present study was designed to estimate the incidence of diVerent STDs and frequency of HIV seropositivity among various STDs. It was conducted in the STD clinic of the department of dermatology and STD, JIPMER, Pondicherry, south India, between January 1993 and December 1997. The patients were from neighbouring Tamil Nadu state and Pondicherry itself. The study group consisted of all new consecutive STD cases having high risk behaviour and/or having present or past history of STDs, irrespective of their age and sex. The diagnosis of various STDs among them was formed on the basis of appropriate laboratory tests. These patients were counselled for HIV testing and prior consent was obtained. HIV tests were performed on serum samples in the microbiology department of this institute by utilising two diVerent enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). Samples that were reactive on both occasions were taken as positive.