They included stigma in a congregational setting and exhaustion of supplies. Some mentioned spiritual considerations though spiritual activities can sometimes complement and strengthen adherence. In those with HIV, prayer was mentioned as an important factor in decision making about ART.8 Thus, it is likely the spiritual activities like contemplation, pilgrimage, and prayers might positively influence ART adherence and illness perception. Ways of improving adherence to ART that are compatible to faith/religious-based practices with good pre-travel counseling and planning should be explored.8 In many chronic diseases, poor adherence to prescribed drugs may lead to therapeutic failure and in HIV infection, in particular,

higher levels of adherence of at least 95% is desired to achieve virologic suppression, avert therapeutic Gefitinib mw failures, and emergence of drug resistance.6 Therapeutic

failure among infected pilgrims will have significant implications. Firstly, it will compromise management especially given the limited availability of alternative anti-retroviral agents in many of their countries of origin. Secondly, immunologic decline will increase their susceptibility to inter-current infections from different parts of the world with significant public health implications; tuberculosis (TB) is the commonest cause of pneumonia during Hajj.9 Potentially, HIV-infected pilgrims can easily acquire and or transmit such inter-current infections. Thus, it is not unreasonable

to limit travel of HIV-positive patients with active selleck compound transmissible Clostridium perfringens alpha toxin infections (eg, patients with TB) and this is consistent with Islamic teachings. Thirdly, spread of infectious diseases during Hajj is well documented,1,2 but the potential for spread of drug-resistant micro-organisms including HIV itself is less well recognized.10 Given the poor adherence observed, resistant HIV strains can emerge and disseminate globally. To prevent the likelihood of these occurrences, there is need to determine causes of suboptimal adherence through more robust qualitative and quantitative methods. Potentially, this may be done utilizing a counselor or care-giver interacting and/or embedded with them before, during, and immediately after travel. HIV-infected patients traveled from their countries across borders to another country where entry with medications even with an accompanying medical report proved difficult. Indeed, a number of countries including some of the pilgrims’ home countries and Saudi-Arabia have some form of HIV-specific restrictions regarding entry, stay, and residence.11 A few even deport patients once their HIV-positive status is known.11 These restrictions compromise adherence, ART, and are stigmatizing, discriminatory, and contrary to effective public health efforts. The main reason for restricting HIV-positive travelers is to prevent transmission in the visited countries.