ABSTRACT
Objective Limiting antigen avidity enzyme immunoassay (LAg-Avidity EIA) was applied to calculate the HIV-1 incidence of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men(MSM), drug users(DUS), female sex workers(FSW) and male patients in sexually transmitted diseases clinics(STD) in 2017-2020 of Hubei. Methods HIV-1 antibody positive samples were collected from four key groups in the national HIV sentinel surveillance from 2017 to 2020, and tested by the LAg-Avidity EIA to estimate the annual new infection rate of each group. Results The prevalence of MSM was 2.90%, 4.48%, 3.63 and 2.78% from 2017-2020, respectively, which was the highest among the four groups. The rate of late diagnosis increased from 16.67% in 2017 to 28.81% in 2020.The incidence of MSM was 1.64%(0.85%-2.44%),1.41%(0.59%-2.23%),1.46% (0.71%-2.21%) and 0.96%(0.34%-1.57%), respectively, and the difference was not statistically significant (χ2=1.491, P=0.684). The prevalence of STD from 2017-2020 was 0.03%, 0.01%, 0.06% and 0.08%, respectively, with the incidence was 0.09% (-0.06%-0.25%), 0.10(-0.06%-0.26%), 0.26% (0.02%-0.50%) and 0.04%(-0.07%-0.15%). The prevalence and incidence among FSW remains very low, while the prevalence of DUS fluctuated slightly, but no new infections have been detected. Conclusion The incidence of new HIV infection among MSM in Hubei province from 2017-2020 is relatively high compared with other key groups, but the overall trend is declining, thus the intervention of MSM should be further strengthened and expand the coverage of testing in key populations.