Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Associated Disorders in Pakistan

Abstract

We have documented evidence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in four individuals including a blood donor and three members of a family (husband, wife, and a child) in Karachi, Pakistan. Our data indicate that HIV has been transmitted to the wife of the seropositive male, a drug abuser, in the recent past and that she has passed the virus to her newborn child perinatally/transplacentally. The two seropositive males (blood donor and drug abuser) were diagnosed clinically as having persistent generalized lymphadenopathy, an AIDS-related condition (ARC), and the child presented with developmental disorders and neurologic manifestations. This is the first report of AIDS/ARC cases from Pakistan that can be directly related to HIV infection and its heterosexual transmission.

The descriptive epidemiology of male sex workers in Pakistan: a biological and behavioural examination

“…Injection drug use has been noted as contributing to Pakistan's initial HIV epidemic1 5 8 11 15; however, our observation that no HIV-positive respondents reported recent injection drug use is consistent with HIV spreading through sexual networks in Pakistan 17. Since respondents did not know their HIV status, and given the low rates of injection drug use among sex workers,31 the sexual spread of HIV is a likely possibility.…”

“…Although the first case of HIV in Pakistan was reported in the mid-1980s,1 HIV was thought to have left Pakistan relatively unscathed, with low-level transmission occurring in isolated subgroups 2–5. However, outbreaks were observed, starting in 2003–2004,2 foreshadowing the potential for a more generalised epidemic.…”

HIV/AIDS in Pakistan: the context and magnitude of an emerging threat

“…Firstly, it documents HIV positive women in Pakistan regardless of the route of transmission and opens to public discourse that women are at risk. This then leads to the possibility of perinatal transmission, and the need for monitoring newborns for HIV, 7 which is not currently practised. The numeric value of the ratio itself may simply reflect a higher number of men being screened.…”

HIV/AIDS Risk Behaviors and Correlates of Injection Drug Use Among Drug Users in Pakistan

“…The first reported case of AIDS in Pakistan was reported 6,7 in 1987. Since that time, the number of HIV cases has increased to approximately 100,000 among the country's population of 145 million.…”