International Journal of STD & AIDS > Volume 20, Number 2 > Pp. 95-101

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Original research articles

Sexual risk behaviour of the first cohort undergoing screening for enrolment into Phase I/II HIV vaccine trials in South Africa

K M Andersson MD PhD ^*  , R M Van Niekerk MA , L M Niccolai PhD ^*, O N Mlungwana , I M Holdsworth BA , M Bogoshi MD , J A McIntyre MD , G E Gray MD  and E Vardas MD 

^* Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Perinatal HIV Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Box 114, Diepkloof, Johannesburg 1864, Republic of South Africa

Correspondence to: Dr Kyeen Mesesan Andersson, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, 47 College Street, Suite 104, New Haven, CT 06511, USA Email: kyeen{at}aya.yale.edu

We assessed risk behaviour in a heterosexual cohort undergoing prescreening for the first Phase I/II HIV vaccine trials in Soweto. We developed a survey and collected self-reported data from HIV-negative potential volunteers. Of 488 participants, most were single and approximately half were from households with incomes below the poverty level. Males reported higher rates of heavy alcohol use (P < 0.001), marijuana use (P < 0.001) and other recreational drug use (P < 0.01). Males reported more sex partners than females in the previous six months (P < 0.001), as well as more casual/anonymous partners (P < 0.001) and one-night stands (P < 0.001). Multivariate analyses revealed substance use and male gender predicted higher risk behaviours, including <100% condom use with known/suspected HIV-positive partners, having casual/anonymous partners and having more than two partners. For this population, male volunteers may need increased risk-reduction counselling during Phase I/II trials and additional recruitment methods may be necessary to identify high-risk female volunteers for Phase III efficacy trials.

Key Words: HIV risk behaviour • sexual risk behaviour • HIV vaccine trials • Africa

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