HIV Incidence and Care Linkage among MSM First-Time-Testers in Shenyang, China 2012–2014

HIV testing is the first step to the fulfillment of Treat as Prevention (TasP) and reaching the 90-90-90 goal in HIV control. However, there are still a large number of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) have never been tested for HIV before, and little is known about the HIV incidence and care linkage among this population. A Mixed method was used to recruit MSM who had never tested for HIV before from January 2012 to December 2014 in Shenyang, China. Potential MSM participants were invited to attend the enrollment for HIV and syphilis testing at a general hospital-based voluntary counseling and test (VCT). HIV confirmed positive subjects were further tested by BED HIV-1 capture enzyme immunoassay (BED-CEIA) to determine the HIV incidence. Syphilis was screened by the rapid plasma reagent test (RPR) and confirmed by Treponema pallidum particle assay (TPPA). All the HIV positive subjects were referred to the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and clinics for HIV primary care and follow-ups. In total 646 HIV first-time-testers of MSM (FMSM) attended this study, 73.4% (474/646) were aged under 31-year-old and 57.3% (370/646) and used the Internet as their major cruising avenue for seeking male sexual partners. The average prevalence of HIV and current syphilis infection was 10.8% (70/646) and 11.0% (71/646), respectively. The HIV incidence was 10.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.1–14.5)/100PY. Multivariate logistic analysis showed that factors such as use of the Internet as the major cruising avenue (adjusted OR [AOR] 2.7, 95% CI 0.9–7.6) and having a current syphilis infection (AOR 4.2, 95% CI 1.8–12.2) were independent correlates of a recent HIV infection. Of the 95 HIV screening test positive FMSM, 73.7% (70/95) returned and be confirmed positive, 92.9% (65/70) of confirmed patients were linked to care. Among those retained and underwent CD4+ T cell test, 76.3% (42/55) started HIV antiretroviral therapy. Among the unconfirmed, 84.0% (21/25) were non-local migrants. The HIV incidence of FMSM in Shenyang was high. Future HIV testing program needs to keep on expanding among the MSM who have never been tested for HIV yet. The Internet-based campaigns and syphilis testing and treatment could represent an opportunity to get access to this hard-to-reach population and link them to HIV care. Future linkage to HIV care of this population should underscore the usage of HIV rapid diagnostic tests to prevent lost at early steps of linkage.