HIV-1 and HIV-2 in Ghana West Africa: community surveys compared to surveys of pregnant women.

HIV prevalence in urban and rural southern Ghana was investigated in a community-based serosurvey of 2410 people conducted in 1989-90 and an analysis of serum samples collected in 1987 from 1330 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in the Eastern Region. None of the 906 children in the community-based survey was HIV-positive including 6 born to HIV-infected women. Among the 1329 adults 5 men (1.0%) and 12 women (1.5%) were infected. Among pregnant women 100 (7.1%) were HIV-positive. At the four antenatal centers HIV prevalence ranged from 0.6% to 10.3%. The high HIV prevalence recorded among pregnant women in the Manya-Krobo District (10.3%) a rural area away from major travel routes likely reflects the tendency for ill women to return home to be cared for by their families. HIV surveillance programs that focus on pregnant women should be aware of this social phenomenon.