First decline in new HIV infections

For the first time less HIV new diagnoses in Germany

07/17/2012

For the first time, the number of new HIV diagnoses has fallen slightly for years. Researchers believe that improved therapies and low-threshold AIDS testing services have helped lower the rate of infection.

For the first time in ten years, the rate of new infections with the HI virus has fallen again somewhat. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin, 2889 patients have been infected with the virus. This corresponds to a reduction of the new cases by 1.7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. In the years before, the numbers had risen again and again year after year. „The falling numbers are remarkable“, as it was called the current Epidemiological Bulletin of the RKI.

Not every case of AIDS is reported
New to the immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS in 2011, 502 people. However, the numbers of newly diagnosed infections do not necessarily reflect the current infection“, reports one of the study authors. The actual incidence rate can only be estimated, since not all cases are reported and the number of unreported cases is usually higher. „For the year 2011, the RKI estimates that Germany will have about 1,000 newly diagnosed AIDS cases. „Thus, even taking into account a mean reporting delay of over 3 years, only about every second newly diagnosed AIDS case is reported to the RKI.“

Homosexual men continue to make up the largest group of patients with 55 percent of new HIV infections detected. Nevertheless, the number of new diagnoses dropped significantly in this group from 1697 (2010) to 1574 (2011). That corresponds to a minus of about seven percentage points. Of the total number of HIV diagnoses, 15.7 percent were women. Here, unlike in the previous year, the quota rose slightly by 0.7 percent. „HIV new diagnoses in women have fluctuated around a value of 450 since 2007 and thus remain at a constant level.“

The proportion of men has solidified over the last ten years. Since 2003, the proportion has increased by around ten percent. „The number of new HIV diagnoses in men fell slightly from 2,488 to 2,428. In seven reports in 2011, the gender was missing.“

Less and less drug addicts get involved
In contrast to the social picture, the proportion of drug addicts has been relatively low since the separate evaluation of the RKI compared to other patient groups. Just 90 new infections were reported to the institute. This corresponds to a share of three percent. Here the preventive measures of the drug counseling centers could play a major role.

In East Germany the least HIV new infections
The most common new infections occurred in the federal states of Berlin, Hesse, Hamburg, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia. The lowest rates of new cases were found in the states of Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and the Saarland.

However, the RKI can not detect a turnaround and at the same time warned against premature conclusions. The experts suspect that the new diagnoses have fallen because of the better treatment options of HIV patients. In addition, low-threshold AIDS test offers helped to reduce the number of new infections.

Medicines can now significantly reduce the risk of infection with the HIV virus. For their part, the test offers ensure that the number of unreported cases remains low and that infections are detected more quickly. Since the separate survey, a total of 28,453 people with AIDS have been registered by the RKI. 14295 people have died so far from the effects of immunodeficiency. (Sb)

Read about:
First HIV rapid test approved for the home
Healing AIDS possible in 5 years
Aids: 17 antibodies against HI viruses discovered
3016351a2cc0b08c03h always no cure in sight?
Proper handling of HIV infections is required
AIDS: drug to protect against HIV infection
Precursors of AIDS viruses tens of thousands of years old

Picture: Gerd Altmann