TABLE 2.
Reasons for not being tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in close contacts (N = 346) by HIV serostatus of index cases
| Reason | Total
|
Index Case
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HIV-infected
|
HIV-uninfected
|
HIV-unknown
|
||||||
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| Claimed not at risk | 176 | 50.9 | 22 | 44.0* | 86 | 44.1* | 68 | 67.3 |
| Refused, and gave no reasons | 59 | 17.1 | 11 | 22.0* | 38 | 19.5 | 10 | 9.9 |
| No show or lost to follow-up | 19 | 5.5 | 1 | 2.0 | 16 | 8.2* | 2 | 2.0 |
| Recent previous HIV-negative, unverified | 16 | 4.6 | 4 | 8.0 | 5 | 2.6 | 7 | 6.9 |
| Nonrecent previous HIV-negative, unverified | 17 | 4.9 | 4 | 8.0 | 8 | 4.1 | 5 | 5.0 |
| Moved | 9 | 2.6 | 0 | 0.0 | 8 | 4.1 | 1 | 1.0 |
| Phone disconnected after initial contact | 6 | 1.7 | 1 | 2.0 | 5 | 2.6 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Language barrier | 3 | 0.9 | 1 | 2.0 | 2 | 1.0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Other† | 19 | 5.5 | 4 | 8.0 | 10 | 5.1 | 5 | 5.0 |
| Unknown | 22 | 6.4 | 2 | 4.0 | 17 | 8.7 | 3 | 3.0 |
*
P< .05 (Pearson’s chi-square test) for comparison to close contacts of cases with unknown HIV serostatus; otherwise, there were no statistically significant differences between groups.
†
Included the reasons, such as being afraid of needles or blood, waiting for response or partner to be tested, didn’t want to know, and wanted to be tested by private physicians.