HIV Partner Notification in the United States

In Brief Objective: The objective of this study was to define the scope and case-finding success of HIV partner notification (PN) in the United States. Study: The authors conducted an analysis of PN data from metropolitan areas >500,000 reporting ≥200AIDS cases in 2001. Results: Data were collected from 28 (72%) of 39 eligible jurisdictions. In 22 jurisdictions with reportable HIV, health departments interviewed 32% of 20,353 persons with newly reported HIV. Among 6394 sex or needle-sharing partners, 19% had been previously HIV-diagnosed; 10% tested HIV-positive; 32% tested HIV-negative; and 39% were not notified, denied previous HIV diagnosis and refused HIV testing, or outcome was unknown. Health departments interviewed 13.8 persons to identify 1 new case of HIV (range, 1.0–196). Areas in which larger proportions of AIDS cases occurred among men who have sex with men reported less success identifying new cases of HIV through PN. Conclusions: HIV PN programs identify new cases of HIV but have variable success and affect a minority of persons reported with HIV. A survey of public health department HIV programs finds that only 32% of persons reported with newly diagnosed HIV are interviewed for purposes of partner notification, but that overall HIV partner notification case-finding yields are good.