Seroprevalence and clinical manifestations of HIV-1 infection in Kananga, Zaire.

The objective of this study was to ascertain the seroprevalence and clinical manifestations of HIV-1 infection in Kananga, Zaire, in 1988. In the city of Kananga (population 300,000), eight out of 258 (3.1%) consecutive, asymptomatic, prenatal patients were seropositive. Of 452 consecutive blood donors at our institution, eight (1.8%) were seropositive. Sixty per cent of 299 consecutive, seropositive, clinically ill adults presented with chronic diarrhea, fever or weight loss (Centers for Disease Control group IVA). The male-to-female ratio of symptomatic, seropositive patients was 1:1.5. Women who indicated on a socioeconomic questionnaire that they engaged in 'commerce' (meaning possibly that they were petty traders, wholesale brokers, or prostitutes) were more often HIV-seropositive than women who did not engage in 'commerce' (P less than 0.001).