HIV infections in many unrecognized

HIV infections in Germany: more and more infected

11/11/2013

It was in the early 1980s when a true AIDS epidemic hit Germany. An estimated 94,000 people have been infected with the virus since then. About 27,000 have died. At the time, HIV infection was considered a safe death sentence, and as a result, sufferers have died of life-threatening infections and tumors.

Thanks to antiretroviral drugs and the probability of survival of people living with HIV has increased significantly and now a nearly "normal" life is possible with the virus. According to current estimates of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin lived in 2012 about 78,000 HIV-infected. The number of people living with the HIV virus in the over-40s has increased fivefold since the early 1990s. The researchers were able to observe an unchanged high level of new infections. Almost half of the patients (45 percent) have been infected abroad.

The RKI is concerned about the groups of people who are not yet aware of their HIV infection. According to the RKI report, about 14,000 people are "HIV-positive and do not know about it because no HIV test has been conducted so far". 30 percent of those affected are between 25 and 34 years old. Around 3,400 Germans (just under 25 percent) became infected in the course of 2012. The largest proportion, 74 percent, are men who had sex with other men. Among heterosexual women, 11 percent were affected and 8 percent were heterosexual men. The proportion of drug addicts who became infected as a result of infected syringes was six percent. Almost a third of new infections were detected in the first year.

In a majority of 75 percent, an infection was diagnosed only after the onset of clinical symptoms. To curb the high number of new infections, the RKI advises the risk groups for the use of condoms to sensitize and offer more low-threshold services. Access to HIV testing should be facilitated. According to the experts, it is also important to stop the strong increase in cases of syphilis. The sexually transmitted disease promotes the susceptibility to HIV as well as the transmission of the virus. (Fr)