Metropolis Healthcare Ltd, India’s only multi-national chain of diagnostics centres, has recently come up with a study based on their three years walk–in patients for HIV testing. The study which was done on a sample size of 18, 005 patients, revealed that there has been a steady decline in the number of patients that tested positive for the HIV related diseases. The time period from which the sample size was taken was January – October 2008, January – October 2009 and January – October 2010.

The national HIV prevalence rose dramatically in the early years of the epidemic, but a study released at the beginning of 2006 suggests that the HIV infection rate has recently fallen in southern India, the region that has been hit hardest by AIDS. In addition, NACO released figures in 2008 suggesting that the number of people living with HIV has declined from 2.73 million in 2002 to 2.27 million in 2008.

The study conducted by Metropolis covered the four metro cities of Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai and Delhi and the HIV related tests conducted included HIV Proviral DNA Blood, HIV I RNA detection qualitative, HIV I RNA detection quantitative and HIV II western blot and HIV DUO. These tests are conducted to detect HIV/AIDS at their various stages.

The HIV test Proviral DNA has a window period within 3-5 days of exposure and is an early detection test. The HIV 1 RNA detection qualitative is also an early detection test with a window period is within 5-7 days of exposure. The HIV DUO has a window period of within 7-12 days of exposure and is used for detection of P24 antigen & antibody to HIV 1 & 2. The Western blot is a supplementary test used to detect various types of HIV antibodies. The HIV 1 RNA quantitative is used for viral load estimation and to decide the appropriate drug therapy.

The observations made were that there was a decline in the overall walk- in patients for HIV testing since January 2008. In 2008, total number of walk-in patients for overall testing were 192836, total number of walk-in patients for HIV testing was 5890 and percentage of HIV patient testing v/s overall general testing was 3.1 per cent.

In 2009, total number of walk-in patients for overall was 218601. Total number of walk-in patients for HIV testing was 2526 and the percentage of HIV patient testing v/s overall general testing was 1.2 per cent. In 2010, the number of walk-in patients for overall testing was 247770. The number of HIV patients going in for test was 2565 and the percentage of HIV patient testing v/s overall general testing was 1 per cent.

Further decline in the overall number of patients that tested positive for HIV, since January 2008, came down from 228 to 140 in 2009 to 139 in 2010.

Gender-wise, amongst HIV positive incidences, the male percentage was higher than females across all cities. Age-wise the most affected slab was between 14-45 years. Overall in all the cities the paediatric walk-in population for HIV detection is negligible as it is less than 1 per cent of the overall testing.

The drop in number of AIDS patients can be attributed to general awareness and education on how one can contract the disease, the government initiatives and NGOs working towards AIDS awareness, and with public becoming more alert about the disease. Early detection and treatment have also contributed to the low numbers. Availability and use of condoms, among high risk group like sex workers and transgender has also increased significantly.