[Contact tracing and partner notification among a cohort of HIV-1 infected patients. A prospective study carried out in Palermo in 2012].

Introduction. Contact tracing and partner notification are tools to prevent the spread of the HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. These tools protect the rights of the individual contrasting healthcare policies that encourage dangerous kinds of discrimination. Objective. Pointing out the opinion of a sample of HIV-1 infected patients about the possibility of starting a support helpdesk for contract tracing and partner notification. Design and setting. A survey about contact tracing and partner notification procedures was conducted through anonymous questionnaires filled by a sample of 110 HIV-infected patients, involved in a follow-up stage at the Infectious Diseases Outpatients Clinic from the Civic Hospital Benfratelli in Palermo. The survey took place in May 2012. Results. An efficient partner notification is considered essential, both to protect people with whom the patient has come into contact and to contribute to the reduction of HIV spread. The questions dealing with this issue recorded more than 90% of positive answers. The questions about protecting the privacy during the diagnosis notification processes enlightened that notifying the partner is always felt as a greater need compared to the risk of losing one's own privacy; in fact, the positive answers were 81%. As for the role played by the physician during the contact tracing and partner notification process, 34% of the interviewees think that the physician should ask the patient to disclose the names of partners with whom he/she had a risky behavior. Finally, as for the question concerning how partner notification should happen, the results showed that 31% of the interviewees declare to be favorable to a full mandate by the physician, while just above 25% would choose to notify it personally, even though with the physician's help. Conclusion. Overall, the survey showed that more than 70% of people interviewed are favorable to a personal notification, against 25% of the interviewees who would like to have the support of a healthcare operator during the partner notification process. The percentage of patients who would rather completely delegate the notification to the physician is drastically reduced to less than 2%.