TRACING THOSE who may have exposed their partners to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has become a priority of those combatting the spread of the disease in Barbados.
Senior Medical Officer of Health in charge of the HIV/AIDS Programme, Dr Anton Best, said this was an important method of control for the HIV epidemic. It involves asking newly diagnosed people with HIV who they had sexual intercourse with and seeking to get those exposed people tested for HIV.
“For every person that is newly diagnosed, contact tracing involves obtaining the names of their partners and approaching them without revealing the name of the person who provided their name. We try to encourage them to get screened for HIV and other STIs (sexually transmitted infections),” said Best.
Though not disclosing how many people were approached via this method in the last year, Best said “quite a few” were contacted and “the majority of them were negative”. (SP)
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