HIV screening in the Rotunda Hospital

Before routine voluntary antenatal HIV screening, was introduced at the Rotunda Hospital in January 1998; most identified HIV infection in antenatal women was linked to intravenous drug use. Introduction of routine testing coincided with significant demographic changes in the antenatal population and also with significant advances in the management of HIV in pregnancy. This retrospective study audits the Rotunda antenatal HIV screening programme. HIV prevalence, test uptake and the role of screening in new case identification are determined. Patient demographics, gestation at diagnosis, management, and pregnancy and neonatal outcome are characterised. Programme effectiveness is evaluated with reference to recommended goals of test uptake > 95% and vertical transmission rate of <2%. A total of 31 950 women booked between January 1998 and August 2002 inclusive. The screening uptake was 99.9%. There were 82 pregnancies in HIV positive women during the 4.75 years. The overall HIV prevalence was 0.25%, increas...