Background: The prevalence of suicide in HIV/AIDS-infected patients has been under researched in developing countries including South Africa.Some deaths due to suicide and attempted suicides may go unreported due to the stigma associated with the HIV-infection and suicide itself.Methods: All subjects attending the voluntary counselling and testing clinic at King Edward Ⅷ Hospital, Durban, South Africa from August 2007 to October 2007completed a questionnaire on socio-demographic data and 2 questionnaires viz.the Beck Hopelessness Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory at 2 time points, within 72 hours and within 6 weeks after notification of the HIV results.Results: One hundred and eighty-seven participants were evaluated at 72 hours following HIV testing and one hundred and thirty-three were evaluated 6 weeks later.The mean age of the sample at baseline was 34.2 years (standard deviation 10.7 years) with a range from 16-79 years.Suicidal ideation was present in 32 of the 187 participants at 72 hours following HIV testing and this represents 17.1% of the sample (95% confidence interval 12.16% to 23.45%).At 6 weeks following the HIV test, suicidal ideation was found in 32 of the 133 participants, giving a 24.1% risk (95% confidence interval 17.26% to 32.39%).There were 23 new cases of suicidal ideation between 72 hours and 6 weeks, representing a suicidal incidence risk of 20.9% (95% confidence intervals 13.97% to 29.92%).At both 72 hours post HIV test, and at 6 weeks post HIV test, there was a highly significant association between HIV result and suicidal ideation.Suicidal ideation was significantly associated with the participants positive HIV status in this study.The outcome of this study showed that increasing age significantly increased suicidal ideation at 72 hours and again at 6 weeks.As the age of the HIV infected subject increased by one year, the risk for being suicidal increased by 1.03 times.Although the male gender was significant risk factor for suicidal ideation only at 6 weeks, HIV positive males had a 1.8 times higher risk for suicidal ideation than females.Conclusion: This study correlates some risk factors for suicidal ideation in the HIV-infected population by examining the role of socio-demographic factors and a positive HIV-test result.Although preliminary and exploratory, these findings will provide a framework for future studies in determining the risk factors for suicide.