THE USE OF HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS DIAGNOSIS INFORMATION IN MONITORING THE ACQUIRED-IMMUNE-DEFICIENCY-SYNDROME EPIDEMIC

For acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients, information may be available on the time of diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (first positive HIV antibody test) in addition to the time of AIDS diagnosis. This extra information may be incorporated into backcalculation of HIV infection curves. This also allows the estimation of the rate of HIV diagnosis among HIV-infected individuals, a measure which is of obvious public health importance. A framework for this is described and then applied to data from England and Wales. Different exposure categories are compared. The incorporation of information on the total number of HIV diagnoses in specific exposure groups is also examined.