These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: [Counseling and HIV-testing among hospital patients in Arusha and Kilimanjaro].
    Author: Lie GT, Biswalo PM, Klepp KI.
    Journal: Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen; 1995 Oct 30; 115(26):3286-8. PubMed ID: 7482463.
    Abstract:
    In 1989 the Ministry of Health in Tanzania decided that all patients suspected to be HIV-infected should be counselled in order to prevent or reduce the risk of HIV-transmission and to help people cope with the disease. This article describes the introduction of a counselling service at the Regional Hospitals of Arusha and Kilimanjaro and provides an overview of our experiences during the period 1990-92. Patients at the two hospitals received pre-test, post-test and follow-up counselling. Of 1,194 persons pre-test counselled, 95% gave their informed consent to be tested 62% were HIV-positive. Data on clinical pretest assessment of the patients matched the HIV-test assessment of the patients matched the HIV-test results for those assessed to have full blown AIDS, but there was more discrepancy for patients assessed to have early signs of AIDS or to be in the terminal phase. The majority of the HIV-positive patients accepted their diagnosis when informed. The routines at the hospitals are still functional five years after the introduction of the counselling service. The MUTAN (Tanzanian Norwegian AIDS Project) virology program has comprised research, intervention, surveillance, and education as part of the Tanzanian National AIDS Control Program. The introduction of a HIV/AIDS counseling service at the regional hospitals of Arusha and Kilimanjaro during 1990-92 is described. Patients were given pre-test, post-test, and follow-up counseling by 15 trained counselors from the hospitals. In addition, all doctors underwent a 2-day training course in counseling. A total of 1194 patients were included in the pretest counseling of whom 1133 (95%) gave informed consent to be tested. 930 persons (78%) were directed to doctors in the hospitals. 15% of the 1194 turned to counselors on their own initiative. Of 1108 persons who had test results, 684 (61.7%) were HIV positive. Out of 1133 patients who gave informed consent, 765 (360 men and 405 women) were evaluated. No symptoms were found in 17.3% of men and 35.7% of women; earlier signs of AIDS were verified in 59.3% of men and 67.7% of women; clinical symptoms of AIDS were revealed by 90.4% of men and 85.5% of women; and terminal AIDS was diagnosed in 65.5% of men and 83.3% of women. The data showed that the clinical diagnosis of mistaken early AIDS was very uncertain; however, there was a high degree of correspondence between the clinical diagnosis of manifest AIDS and the serological results. In increasing order the psychosocial reactions to the positive test results were: shock, denial, anger, relief (p .05), guilt feeling (p .05), fright/anxiety, dejection/sorrow, and acceptance. This mode of counseling became routine after 5 years in the two hospitals. About two-thirds of the HIV positive patients from the 1990-92 period died, but the counseling system allows the follow-up of HIV-positive patients and their families in devising methods for fighting the epidemic.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]