Short communication: status of AIDS in Khartoum in 1986.

In Khartoum the Sudan researchers collected sera from 40 hospitalized patients and 35 healthy sexually active males and females to test for HIV in November 1986 (mean age 29 years old). The subjects were from all over the country. Males made up 72% of the group. Non sexual risks that the group experienced in the 5 years prior to the study included 70% had received medical injections 31% had a tooth pulled and 43% had been a patient at a medical facility half of whom had surgery. Only 4 reported a blood transfusion in this time period. Laboratory personnel in Cairo Egypt screened the sera for HIV antibodies using the ELISA test and the Western Blot confirmed positive sera. 74 subjects sera tested negative with the 1st ELISA test. 1 subjects sera tested only slightly reactive but the 2nd ELISA and the Western Blot assay proved the sera negative for HIV antibodies. These results suggest that the AIDS epidemic had not yet reached Khartoum but the sample was small and may have missed seropositive cases especially if HIV was present at a very low prevalence. HIV screening needs to cover all of the Sudan in order to assess HIV infection rates.