Re: Britain To Fund Study On Discordant Kenyan Couples Who Do No...

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Aiii Chifu.........................

Some of these reasons might include less frequent sexual

relations because of long travels for work, not having "rough

intercourse.

In a message dated 12/17/2005 9:21:00 AM Central Standard Time, chifu2222@... writes:

Britain To Fund Study On Discordant Kenyan Couples Who Do Not

Transmit HIV To Each Other

Category: HIV/AIDS News

Article Date: 17 Dec 2005

Britain is providing almost $840,000 as part of an HIV/AIDS grant to

Kenya to study 160,000 "discordant couples," or couples in which one

person is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative, London's Daily

Telegraph reports. The study will look at couples in Kenya's Nyanza

province, which borders Lake . According to the Telegraph,

HIV/AIDS prevalence rates along the lake's shores are some of the

highest in the world -- most likely because of local customs, such

as an "aversion to circumcision" and widow inheritance, in which

widows are "inherited" by their brother-in-law after their husband's

death. However, early surveys, show that up to 40% of HIV-positive

people in the area have not transmitted the virus to their partners,

despite "regularly engaging in unprotected sex over long periods of

marriage," the Telegraph reports. "Essentially, there are still

great gaps in what we know about discordant couples," Gesami,

Nyanza's chief provincial medical officer, said, adding, "But we

have been able to make some guesses" about why transmission has not

occurred. Some of these reasons might include less frequent sexual

relations because of long travels for work, not having "rough"

intercourse, or an inaccurate survey because of a "low point" in new

infections, according to the Telegraph. Marilyn McDonagh, Kenya

program director for health for Britain's Department for

International Development, added, "Whatever the reason, we want to

make sure we reach as many of these discordant couples and get them

tested so that we can counsel them if one is still negative and keep

them negative" (Pflanz, Daily Telegraph, 12/14).

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=35102 & nfid=mnf