MHA-Tp testing on HIV positive and negative women in vigilance home at Madurai.

ABSTRACT

In the study group of 94 cases of female prostitutes and their children 55 cases showed positive for HIV infection by ELISA and Western Blot tests. They showed positive also for syphilis in 37 cases by VDRL and in 43 cases by MHA-Tp tests among HIV positive and negative women. The association of HIV infection and syphilis was observed in this study due to sexual transmission of these infections. But congenital spread from infected mother to their children was not observed in this study since both mothers and their children were negative for these infections. MHA-Tp testing confirmed VDRL test results in 27 cases and also increased specificity of MHA-Tp test result over VDRL result in 16 cases and exclusion of biological false positive by VDRL in 10 cases were noticed in this study.