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ObjectiveTo analyze the changes in HIV， syphilis and hepatitis C prevalence among men who have sex with men （MSM） in Taizhou City， Zhejiang Province from 2017 to 2022， and the utilization of HIV intervention services and its influencing factors. MethodsMSM participants were recruited from HIV sentinel surveillance in Taizhou through snowball sampling method. Participants’ socio-demographic characteristics， sexual behavior characteristics， knowledge of HIV and utilization of HIV intervention services were collected and statistically described by questionnaire survey. Blood samples from MSM sentinel population were also collected for HIV， syphilis， and HCV antibody testing. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors for utilizing HIV intervention services among MSM. ResultsA total of 2 499 MSM were included in the analysis from 2017 to 2022， with HIV prevalence of 5.8%， syphilis prevalence of 4.0%， and HCV prevalence of 0.6%. The infection rate， proportion of homosexual anal sex and heterosexual sex showed a decreasing trend， while the proportion of condom use during homosexual anal sex， condom publicity and distribution， AIDS consultation and testing， acceptance of peer education， and online temporary homosexual sex showed an increasing trend. All these differences were statistically significant. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that COVID-19 epidemic （aOR=1.66， 95%CI：1.04‒2.64） and HIV knowledge awareness （aOR=2.57， 95%CI：1.22‒5.40） were positively correlated with increased acceptance of condom publicity and distribution， and utilization of AIDS counseling and testing. Those who sought male sexual partners through offline route （aOR=3.44， 95%CI： 1.16‒10.21）， and had a history of sexually transmitted diseases within one year （aOR=5.47， 95%CI： 1.04‒28.76） were positively correlated with community-based methadone maintenance therapy， clean needle provision and exchange services， while COVID-19 epidemic （aOR=0.35， 95%CI： 0.14‒0.88） was negatively correlated with the utilization of these services. COVID-19 epidemic （aOR=2.11， 95%CI： 1.54‒2.89）， HIV knowledge awareness （aOR=2.09， 95%CI： 1.08‒4.02）， offline search for male sexual partners （aOR=1.47， 95%CI： 1.03‒2.11）， and awareness of HIV infection of sexual partners （aOR=2.09， 95%CI： 1.62‒2.69） were positively correlated with the increased use of peer education service， while married or cohabited （aOR=0.73， 95%CI： 0.55‒0.98） and VCT （aOR=0.61， 95%CI： 0.46‒0.82） were negatively correlated with utilization of peer education service. ConclusionHIV infection rate of sentinel MSM population in Taizhou decreases， while the utilization of HIV intervention services increases in general. Targeted measures should be developed according to the changes in sexual behavior and HIV intervention services among MSM populations in Taizhou to improve the HIV intervention services for the MSM population.
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ObjectiveTo determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus （HCV） infection and identify the underlying risk factors among drug users in Taizhou City of Zhejiang Province during 2009‒2020. MethodsA consecutive cross-sectional survey was conducted. A total of 400 drug users in correctional settings were randomly selected from April to August. The drug users were interviewed with a questionnaire to collect demographic characteristics， AIDS-related knowledge， detoxification service， drug use， and sexual behavior. Blood samples were then collected for anti-HCV antibody testing. Chi-square test and multivariate conditional logistic regression were used. ResultsA total of 5 042 drug users were included in this study. Seroprevalence of HCV was determined to be 22.7%. From 2009 to 2019， the seroprevalence showed a significant downward trend， from 34.9% to 8.8% （χ2=221.025， P<0.001）. However， in 2020， the seroprevalence was 12.7%. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that senior age （≥25 years old）， cohabitation， taking traditional or mixed drugs， injection drug use， and needle sharing were risk factors associated with HCV seroprevalence. ConclusionSince 2009， HCV seroprevalence among drug users in Taizhou City has shown a downward trend， however， it has increased slightly in 2020. It warrants strengthening prevention and treatment measures in response to risk factors related to HCV infection among drug users.
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Objective@#To investigate the distribution of mitochondrial haplogroups and their correlation with neurocognitive disorder (NCD) in HIV positive individuals.@*Methods@#Baseline data were from the prospective cohort study of comparative HIV and aging research in Taizhou of Zhejiang province from January to December, 2017. A cross-sectional survey was performed in 448 HIV positive individuals. Sanger method was used for the sequencing and genotyping of whole mitochondrial genome of HIV positive individuals. NCD prevalence in the HIV positive individuals was assessed by Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) in questionnaire interviews. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the associations between mtDNA haplogroups and NCD.@*Results@#In this sample, mitochondrial haplogroups D (19.6%, 88/448), B (19.4%, 87/448) and F(17.0%, 76/448) were the most predominant haplogroups. The overall prevalence rate of NCD was 20.3% (91/448), and was high in haplogroups A (23.1%, 9/39), D (21.6%, 19/88), F (26.3%, 20/76) and M7 groups (26.1%, 12/46), respectively. In multivariable logistic regression analysis after adjusting confounding factors, such as age and gender, compared with haplogroup A, there were no differences in the prevalence rate of NCD among HIV positive individuals with haplogroup B, D, F, M7, M8, N9, and others.@*Conclusion@#The study explored primarily correlation between mitochondrial haplogroups and NCD among HIV positive individuals and suggested that there is no significant association between mitochondrial haplogroups and NCD, but further longitudinal investigation with large sample size of HIV positive population is needed to confirm this finding.
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Objective@#To understand the characteristics of sleep disorder in HIV positive and negative individuals, and compare the distributions and epidemiologic characteristic of different subtypes of sleep disorder between two groups.@*Methods@#Baseline data were from the prospective cohort study of comparative HIV and aging research in Taizhou of Zhejiang province from January to December, 2017. A total of 459 HIV positive patients and 798 HIV negative controls with sleep disorders (Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index >5 or at least one question with answers of "most nights" or "every night" for Jenkins Sleep Scale) were included in the analysis. Cluster analysis was conducted to identify the different subtypes of sleep disorder based on 15 sleep-related questions.@*Results@#A total of 1 257 participants were divided into three groups (clusters), i.e. difficulty falling asleep and sleep keeping group (cluster 1), the mild symptoms group (cluster 2), and restless night and daytime dysfunction group (cluster 3), accounting for 19.4% (89/459), 63.8% (293/459) and 16.8% (77/459) in HIV positive group and 13.8% (110/798), 60.5% (483/798) and 25.7% (205/798) in HIV negative group (χ2=16.62, P<0.001). In HIV positive group, the patients in cluster 1 and 3 were older and had higher frailty score, the patients in cluster 1 had highest level of depression, and the more patients in cluster 3 had low body weight or overweight (χ2=13.29, P=0.039; χ2=23.33, P<0.001; χ2=25.71, P<0.001; χ2=15.37, P=0.004). In HIV-negative group, similar findings were found for age, depressive symptoms and frailty score. In addition, the proportion of those who were illiteracy or with primary school education level was significantly high in cluster 1, and the proportion of abnormal waist-to-hip ratio was significantly higher in cluster 1 and 3 (χ2=30.59, P<0.001; χ2=11.61, P=0.003).@*Conclusions@#The proportion of every subtype of sleep disorder in HIV positive individuals were different to those in HIV negative individuals. Mental and physical health status were the main factors affecting the prevalence of sleep disorder. It is necessary to conduct targeted interventions to improve sleep quality.
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Objective@#To understand the prevalence of alcohol use and related factors in HIV positive and HIV negative males.@*Methods@#Baseline data were from the prospective cohort study of comparative HIV and aging research in Taizhou of Zhejiang province from January to December, 2017. The information about alcohol use in the last month was collected through a face-to-face questionnaire interview. Participants were categorized into non-current drinkers, light/moderate drinkers and heavy drinkers according to the US National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) standard.@*Results@#A total of 1 367 HIV positive males and 2 418 HIV negative males were included. Current alcohol use rate (35.2%, 481/1 367) and heavy alcohol use rate (5.0%, 24/481) were significantly lower in HIV positive males than in HIV negative males (48.0%, 1 161/2 418; 23.5%, 273/1 161), but the proportion of drinking wine and yellow rice wine were significantly higher (21.8%, 105/481; 9.1%, 44/481) in HIV positive males than in HIV negative males (13.5%, 157/1 161; 5.8%, 67/1 161). The multivariate multinomial logistic regression analysis results showed that larger waist circumference, current smoking and regular physical exercise were associated with heavy alcohol use behavior in HIV positive males, and age ≥30 years, current smoking, regular physical exercise, higher score of depressive symptoms, heterosexual transmission route and baseline CD4+T cells counts of 200-499 cells/μl were significantly associated with mild/moderate alcohol use behavior in HIV positive males.@*Conclusions@#The alcohol use rate was significantly lower in HIV positive males than in HIV negative males in Taizhou. It is important to strengthen intervention on alcohol drinking behavior and chronic disease risk factors, such as larger waist circumference, smoking and so on.
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Objective@#To determine the first dengue fever case in Taizhou and trace probable transmission sources.@*Methods@#Collected serum of three patients for antigen, antibody and nucleic acid detection. Dengue viruses were isolated and cultured in C6/36 cell. The whole length of E gene was amplified by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) and then sequenced. The phylogenetic tree was drawn.@*Results@#Three cases were positive in nucleic acid detection. Two cases were IgM positive. One case was NSI antigen postive. Three strains of type I dengue virus were isolated from samples. The phylogenetic trees shown that the three strains were on the same branch. The identities of nucleotide were 99.87%. The identities of amino acid were 99.6%-99.8%.@*Conclusions@#The dengue virus strains isolated in Taizhou was imported from Guangdong or Southeast Asia and caused location infection.
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Objective To understand the prevalence of group sex in men who have sex with men (MSM) and related factors in Taizhou,Zhejiang province.Methods From March 2013 to September 2015,a cross-sectional survey was conducted among MSM recruited from gay bars or bath houses in Taizhou by using questionnaire to collect the information about their sexual behavior and HIV test.Results A total of 1 435 MSM were recruited,179 of them (12.5％) were HIV infected,231 (16.1％) reported group sex during the past year.Compared with MSM without group sex,more MSM with group sex had more than ten male sexual partners (53.7％ vs.19.0％,x2=125.527,P＜ 0.01),had both male and female sexual partners (86.6％ vs.68.2％,x2=31.935,P＜0.01),used no condom at sex with female partners during the past year (28.1％ vs.19.8％,x2=6.540,P＜0.05).After adjusted for educational level and occupation,group sex was associated with age [≥ 50 years old vs.≤ 24 years old,adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=2.25,P=0.027],marriage with female (divorced or widowed vs.unmarried,aOR=0.29,P=0.001),census registering (local resident vs.non-local resident,aOR=1.56,P=0.023),number of male seuxal partners (≥21 vs.2-5,aOR=8.06,P＜0.001;11-20 vs.2-5,aOR=3.25,P＜0.001) and number of female seuxal partners (≥6 vs.0,aOR=2.63,P=0.005;2-5 vs.0,aOR=2.58,P=0.001;1 vs.0,aOR=2.01,P=0.010).Conclusion The prcvalcncc of group sex in MSM was high in Taizhou,and their poor condom use and complex sex behaviors would result in higher HIV infection rate and risk of transmission.
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Objective To understand the prevalence of group sex in men who have sex with men (MSM) and related factors in Taizhou,Zhejiang province.Methods From March 2013 to September 2015,a cross-sectional survey was conducted among MSM recruited from gay bars or bath houses in Taizhou by using questionnaire to collect the information about their sexual behavior and HIV test.Results A total of 1 435 MSM were recruited,179 of them (12.5％) were HIV infected,231 (16.1％) reported group sex during the past year.Compared with MSM without group sex,more MSM with group sex had more than ten male sexual partners (53.7％ vs.19.0％,x2=125.527,P＜ 0.01),had both male and female sexual partners (86.6％ vs.68.2％,x2=31.935,P＜0.01),used no condom at sex with female partners during the past year (28.1％ vs.19.8％,x2=6.540,P＜0.05).After adjusted for educational level and occupation,group sex was associated with age [≥ 50 years old vs.≤ 24 years old,adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=2.25,P=0.027],marriage with female (divorced or widowed vs.unmarried,aOR=0.29,P=0.001),census registering (local resident vs.non-local resident,aOR=1.56,P=0.023),number of male seuxal partners (≥21 vs.2-5,aOR=8.06,P＜0.001;11-20 vs.2-5,aOR=3.25,P＜0.001) and number of female seuxal partners (≥6 vs.0,aOR=2.63,P=0.005;2-5 vs.0,aOR=2.58,P=0.001;1 vs.0,aOR=2.01,P=0.010).Conclusion The prcvalcncc of group sex in MSM was high in Taizhou,and their poor condom use and complex sex behaviors would result in higher HIV infection rate and risk of transmission.
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Objective To examine the prevalence and correlates of hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection as well as plasma HCV viral load among newly diagnosed HIV-infected adults during 2009-2012 in Taizhou prefecture of Zhejiang province,China.Methods Five hundred and seventy-two adults who were newly diagnosed as HIV-infection were screened for anti-HCV immunoglobulin G (IgG).Plasma HCV RNA was quantified if positive for HCV IgG.Results Forty-two (7.3％) out of the 572 HIV-infected adults were tested positive for HCV IgG.HCV infection was more likely to occur among participants who were infected with HIV through blood transmission (OR=49.46,95％CI:13.71-178.48).Otherwise,HCV infection was less likely to occur among participants who were under 46-86 years of age (OR=0.12,95％CI:0.02-0.58),those with mode of homosexual transmission of HIV (OR=0.11,95％ C I:0.01-0.86),with education of high school or above (OR=0.13,95％ CI:0.02-0.78).Thirty-three (78.6％) of the total 42 HIV-HCV patients with coinfection had detectable plasma HCV RNA,whereas 9 (21.4％) had undetectable plasma HCV RNA (i.e.,lower than 5.0 × 102 IU/ml) or known as relative HCV viral suppression.No significant associations were noticed on factors as:HCV viral suppression and demographics,HIV transmission route and CD4 + T-cell counts according to univariate regression analyses.Conclusion Prevalence of HCV co-infection was relatively high among newly diagnosed HIV-infected adults in this study area.Majority of the HIV-HCV coinfected patients had detectable plasma HCV RNA,of which the long term impact on disease progression deserves called for further research.
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Objective To investigate the risky sexual behaviors,associated factors and characteristics of sexual network among clients receiving methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) at the clinics in Taizhou prefecture of Zhejiang province.Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted.Data was collected through questionnaire and from the national unified MMT system.Urine was collected to test heroin,methamphetamine,3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and ketamine.Blood was collected to test infections on HIV,hepatitis C vims(HCV) and syphilis.Results Totally,362 clients were recruited.Most of the clients were male (88.7％),31--40 year-olds (54.5％),married (61.6％) and having received junior high school education (56.6％).85.1％ of them received urine test with 82(26.6％) positive for heroin,21 (6.8％) positive for methamphetamine,19 (6.2％) positive for MDMA and none for ketamine.77.1％ of them received blood test,and prevalence rates for HIV,HCV and syphilis were 1.1％,36.7％ and 3.6％.19.5％ of the clients who had sex in the past 6 months.Factors as having multiple sexual partners and positive for club drugs were under higher risk.Sexual networking seemed to be loose,linear and acyclic among this population but overlapping with the drug-using network.Conclusion Effective and targeted interventions should be taken among the MMT clients since continuing drug use and HIV/STD related sexual behavior were found common in them,suggesting there was a risk of HIV/STD transmission in this ppulation.