Demographic and behavioral predictors of knowledge and HIV seropositivity: results of a survey conducted in three anonymous and free counselling and testing centers.

This paper deals with subjects seeking counselling and testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); it analyses which sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics are related to beliefs concerning HIV infection and to HIV seropositivity. A one month survey among individuals who attended HIV testing in three anonymous and free centers (CIDAGs) was carried out in Paris city, on March 1994. 2059 subjects completed a self-administered questionnaire.

[From first symptom to diagnosis and from diagnosis to treatment of tuberculosis: still a long delay].

Objective: The aim of this investigation was to determine the delay between the first symptom and diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis and onset of treatment.

Study Design: Fifty-two consecutive patients presenting with confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis over an 18 month period (June 1, 1991 to December 31, 1992) at the Cochin Hospital in Paris.

Results: The mean delay between first symptom and diagnosis was 2 weeks in 14 patients (27%), 3 to 4 weeks in 10 patients (19%) and over 4 weeks in 28 patients (54%).

HIV prevalence and risk behaviour among intravenous drug users attending HIV counselling and testing centres in Paris.

This study was designed to analyse sexual and drug use behaviour, to determine whether increased awareness can lead to behaviour change, and to evaluate the association between HIV seropositivity and potential risk factors. A 4-month survey was carried out on 147 IVDUs attending three HIV counselling and testing centres, 98% of whom had been using heroin for an average of 7 years, 85% in association with other drugs. Two-thirds of injectors reported having used "safer" injecting practices in the previous year.

[Symptomatology of tuberculosis].

First described long before the beginning of our era, the clinical presentation of tuberculosis has not really changed much over the course of ages. Although early diagnosis and the introduction of bacteriocidal antibiotics have led to a decline in the most severe forms, at least in developed countries, the general and functional symptomatology, characteristic of chronic tuberculosis, remains unchanged in non-immunodeficient patients. Inversely, in patients with and immunodeficiency syndrome, the distribution and clinical course of the fundamental signs and symptoms have undergone a considerable modification as a result of intercurrent clinical signs of other opportunistic diseases involving both the lung and extrapulmonary organs.

Long-term results of monthly inhaled pentamidine as primary prophylaxis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in HIV-infected patients.

Purpose: To evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of inhaled pentamidine as primary prophylaxis against Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Patients: Two hundred thirty-two HIV-infected patients with a CD4 cell count below 20% of the total lymphocyte count were given aerosolized pentamidine once every 4 weeks for more than 3 months. Pentamidine aerosols were administered at the hospital under medical supervision.