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Biomedical subjects

K Mwandagalirwa

Publications and source records attributed to K Mwandagalirwa.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Unprotected intercourse for extra money among commercial sex workers in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

This study assessed the extent and correlates of the practice of engaging in unprotected intercourse for extra money among commercial sex workers (CSWs) in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. We conducted a cross-sectional survey using a structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire among a convenience sample of 136 CSWs. More than one-quarter of CSWs (26.5%) engaged in unprotected intercourse for extra money. These CSWs charged about 3.5 times more for unprotected intercourse than for protected intercourse. Multivariate logistic regression showed that CSWs who engaged in unprotected intercourse for extra money were significantly more likely to live or work in non-downtown (lower socioeconomic) areas of Kinshasa (odds ratio [OR] = 3.07), to have at least one child less than six years of age (OR = 2.95), and to know other CSWs who engaged in the same practice (OR = 9.38). We hypothesize that desperate socioeconomic conditions combined with peer/social norms drive the practice of engaging in unprotected intercourse for extra money. Additional circumstances under which Kinshasa CSWs engaged in unprotected intercourse included intercourse with clients who tore their condoms to increase sexual pleasure (58.8% of CSWs), episodes of condom failure (56.8% of CSWs), and unprotected intercourse with regular noncommercial partners (only 5.3% of CSWs with noncommercial partners always used condoms with these partners).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Perinatal transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 to infants of seropositive women in Zaire.

To examine perinatal transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in Zaire, we screened 8108 women who gave birth at one of two Kinshasa hospitals that serve populations of markedly different socioeconomic status. For up to one year, we followed the 475 infants of the 466 seropositive women (5.8 percent of those screened) and the 616 infants of 606 seronegative women matched for age, parity, and hospital. On the basis of clinical criteria, 85 of the seropositive women (18 percent) had the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The infants of seropositive mothers, as compared with those of seronegative mothers, were more frequently premature, had lower birth weights, and had a higher death rate in the first 28 days (6.2 vs. 1.2 percent; P less than 0.0001). The patterns were similar at the two hospitals. Twenty-one percent of the cultures for HIV-1 of 92 randomly selected cord-blood samples from infants of seropositive women were positive. T4-cell counts were performed in 37 seropositive women, and cord blood from their infants was cultured. The cultures were positive in the infants of 6 of the 18 women with antepartum T4 counts of 400 or fewer cells per cubic millimeter, as compared with none of the infants of the 19 women with more than 400 T4 cells per cubic millimeter (P = 0.02). One year later, 21 percent of the infants of the seropositive mothers had died as compared with 3.8 percent of the control infants (P less than 0.001), and 7.9 percent of their surviving infants had AIDS. We conclude that the mortality rates among children of seropositive mothers are high regardless of socioeconomic status, and that perinatal transmission of HIV-1 has a major adverse effect on infant survival in Kinshasa.

AIDS Serodiagnosis↗
PubMed1988

Human immunodeficiency virus infection among employees in an African hospital.

To define the prevalence and course of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, we examined prospectively a cohort of 2002 adult hospital workers in Kinshasa, Zaire. From 1984 to 1986 the prevalence of HIV infection increased from 6.4 percent to 8.7 percent. Over the two years there was a cumulative incidence of new HIV infection of 3.2 percent. The prevalence was higher among women (16.9 percent) and men (9.3 percent) under the age of 30 than among women (9.0 percent) and men (6.2 percent) over 30. Prevalence rates were similar among physicians (5.6 percent), laboratory workers (2.9 percent), and clerical workers (7.9 percent), but they were higher among female nurses (11.4 percent) and manual workers (11.8 percent). Despite marked differences in the intensity of nosocomial exposure, female nurses had similar infection rates on the female internal medicine ward (9.9 percent), in pediatrics (10.8 percent), and in the delivery room (10.7 percent). The attributable risk of HIV infection from a transfusion was 5.9 percent. Neither medical injections nor scarification was a risk factor for HIV infection. Of the 101 seropositive asymptomatic employees in the 1984 survey, 16 percent had AIDS-related complex, 3 percent had AIDS, and 12 percent had died of AIDS by 1986. Previous studies have revealed a seroprevalence of 8.4 percent among women attending an antenatal clinic near the hospital in 1984 and 1986, and of 5.8 percent (in 1984) and 6.5 percent (in 1986) among men donating blood at the hospital's blood bank. We conclude that there is a continuing high prevalence of HIV infection among hospital workers in Kinshasa, Zaire, which appears to be representative of that in the community and not nosocomial.

AIDS-Related Complex↗