HIV infection and sexual behaviour among infertile women in southeastern Nigeria.

This prospective study was carried out to estimate the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and the risk factors for HIV infection in women undergoing laparoscopy evaluation for infertility. Of 1906 women evaluated between January 1995 and December 2000, 130 (6.82%) tested positive for HIV infection. Husbands of 58.5% of the HIV positive women also tested positive. Analysis of their sexual behaviour within the duration of the marriage revealed that the HIV positive infertile women had more sexual partners [86.2% (112/130) average of five partners vs. 38% (675/1776) average of two partners; P<0.001] and previous sexually transmitted infections [73.1% (95/130) vs. 56.8% (1009/1776); P<0.001] than the HIV negative infertile women. Previous history of induced abortion and blood transfusion was not significantly different for HIV positive and negative women (42.3% vs. 39.3%) and (1.5% vs. 1.0%), respectively, P>0.20. In conclusion, infertile women are exposed to a higher risk of HIV infection due to their promiscuous sexual behaviour in search of pregnancy.