ABSTRACT
@# Objective To understand the awareness of AIDS related knowledge, high risk behaviors, the infection status of HIV, syphilis and HSV-2, and to explore the associated factors with HSV-2 infection among whoremasters in Kaiyuan City, so as to provide scientific evidence for targeted intervention to prevent and control HIV and other STDs. Methods A self-designed questionnaire survey was conducted among whoremasters recruited through outreach activities and snowball sampling. The blood and urine were also collected for corresponding laboratory examination. Results Among the whoremasters, 98.22% had a high awareness of AIDS related knowledge, 9.33% once used drugs, and 14.67% did not use a condom during the latest commercial sex. 62.22% of the whoremasters ever had non-marital sex partners, and of those who had sex with non-marital sex partners in the past year, 59.55% reported using condoms inconsistently. The total infection rate of HIV/syphilis/HSV-2 was 18.22% and the infection rates of HIV, syphilis and HSV-2 were 3.11%, 1.33% and 16.44%, respectively. The older whoremasters were more likely to have a higher HSV-2 infection rate (AOR=1.044,95%CI:1.016-1.073,P=0.002), and those whoremasters not using a condom during the latest commercial sex were more likely to have a higher HSV-2 infection rate (AOR=3.125,95%CI:1.229-7.945,P=0.017). Conclusions Though whoremasters in Kaiyuan City had a high awareness of AIDS related knowledge, they had high-risk behaviors and relatively high HIV and other STDs infection rates. Targeted interventions are needed to improve the risk awareness of STDs infection to promote consistent condom use in both commercial and non-marital sexual behaviors among whoremasters.