Clinical assessment of the risk of Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the population consulting an anonymous and free screening center

The anonymous and free AIDS screening centers were developed in France in 1987 to incite the general population to undergo screening for HIV infection. The aim of this paper was to conduct a prospective study describing the principle characteristics and level of risk of those consulting a center in the Year 1999. A face to face physician-consultant questionnaire was proposed to all the consultants that Year. It included 20 questions regrouped in general characteristics of the subject, number of previous screenings, reason for screening, type of risk taken, date of last risk taken, and number of sexual partners during the past 12 Months and throughout their life without the use of a condom. Two thousand six hundred seventy-eight persons consulted (sex ratio=1) aged a mean of 25.8 Years. The men were older than the women (respectively 27 versus 24.6; p