Social networking identified more HIV infections than self-referral

PHILADELPHIA — The number of reactive HIV tests was 2.6 times higher among clients recruited for testing using social networking strategies compared with clients screened by standard client-initiated counseling, testing and referral programs, according to data presented at IDWeek 2014.

“Awareness of HIV infection is the critical first step in the HIV care continuum,” Ryan Westergaard, MD, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said during his presentation. “One out of five people living with HIV are unaware of their infection.”

Ryan Westergaard

Social network strategies involved enlisting HIV-positive and HIV-negative clients to recruit network associates for HIV testing. According to Westergaard, in a previous CDC-funded demonstration project conducted from 2003-2005, there was a 5.6% prevalence of HIV among more than 3,000 network associates referred for testing by 422 recruiters.

For this study, Westergaard and colleagues evaluated the efficacy of social network-based strategies for recruiting high-risk individuals for HIV testing compared with self-referral within a publicly-funded testing program supporting both strategies in Wisconsin. They conducted a retrospective analysis of 65,693 state-funded HIV tests from 2008 to 2014 to determine the proportion of reactive HIV tests from social networking strategy testing compared with standard client-initiated testing.

There were 536 recruiters within the social networking strategy program and they recruited people for 2,620 tests. Among those tests, there were 64 reactive tests, for a rate of 2.4%. In contrast, there were 63,073 people who underwent testing by standard client-initiated testing and of those, 580 tests were reactive (0.9%).

“There was concern that recruiters may encourage frequent testing from individuals with relatively low risk for HIV, especially with the common use of financial incentives,” Westergaard said. “However, the level of HIV risk among clients referred by social networking strategies remains high, even if recruiters continue referring associates beyond 1 year. Our findings suggest that social networking strategies are an effective approach to identifying individuals with undiagnosed HIV infection.” — by Emily Shafer

For more information:

Westergaard R. Abstract 84. Presented at: IDWeek 2014; Oct. 8-12; Philadelphia.

Disclosure: Westergaard reports no relevant financial disclosures.