Outcome of partner notification of HIV infection in a provincial clinic in East Anglia, UK.

A retrospective study of outcome of partner notification and contact tracing in the cohort of newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS patients seen in the Bure Clinic from 1997 to 2004 was undertaken. There were 17 women, median age (years) 31, range (18-44) and 43 men, median age (years) 37, range (3-61). Self-reported ethnic groups were 17 (28.3%) Africans, two (3.3%) Asians and 41 (68.3%) Caucasians. Partner notification index was 51.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 38.4-64.8%). Africans and Asians (76%) were more likely to bring in their partners than Caucasians (39%) and this was statistically significant (x2 = 8.63, P = 0.01). The Caucasians (61%), who did not bring in their partner, were more likely to be oil workers who had acquired their infection in Africa and Asia (likelihood ratio 11.59, P = 0.02), confirmed by their viral clade. In our cohort, Caucasian heterosexual men, mostly oil workers who acquire their infections elsewhere, contribute to the low partner notification index. To date, non-B clade virus has not been transmitted locally among newly diagnosed patients seen from our low sero-prevalence catchment population.