Seroprevalence of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis C virus in the general population of the Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China

This study aimed at understanding the HIV prevalence, distribution of HIV risk factors and whether the HIV has spread from high‐risk groups to the general population in the Yanyuan and Muli counties, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. A multistage probability method was used to select a representative sample of villages in each county, with stratification by risk employed in the sampling for the Yanyuan county. A real‐name registration and confidential method were adopted to collect the information of the participants. Blood specimens were tested for HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis C virus. A total of 4,950 subjects participated in the study. Of the participants aged ≥ 15 years, 0.12% self‐reported being drug users and 40% were injection drug users; 0.46% had multiple sex partners and the condom use rate was only 26.3% during the last sexual intercourse. HIV, syphilis, and HCV prevalence of Yanyuan county were 0.06% (95% CI: 0–0.142), 0.06% (95% CI: 0–0.142), and 0.15% (95% CI: 0.020–0.280), respectively. HCV prevalence of Muli county was 0.06% (95% CI: 0–0.191), and none was found to be HIV or syphilis positive. Therefore, the rate of HIV infection in Yanyuan and Muli counties is at a low level currently. The Yanyuan county HIV infection rate is similar to the average rate in all of China, and the Muli county rate is below China's average. The HIV epidemic has not spread from high‐risk groups to the general population in these two counties. J. Med. Virol. 84:1–5, 2011. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.