Tick ​​virus and venereal diseases are becoming more common

Current annual report shows worrying increase in infectious diseases
In Saxony, the number of sexually transmitted diseases increased significantly in 2014. This emerges from the current annual report of the State Inspectorate for Health and Veterinary Affairs (LUA), which Minister of Health Barbara Klepsch presented to the public earlier this week. According to the study, 172 new HIV diagnoses were registered and there were nearly three times as many cases of syphilis as in 2010. The tick-borne TBE virus was also more prevalent than before.

Infections with sexually transmitted diseases are increasing significantly
More and more people in Saxony are apparently infected with sexually transmitted diseases. This is the conclusion reached by the State Health and Veterinary Inspectorate (LUA) in its latest "Annual Report 2014". As a result, the number of primary HIV diagnoses in the previous year was 172, while in 2013 there were still 142 cases registered. In syphilis, too, the experts were able to report an increase, with 61 cases of illness occurring more than a year earlier in the past year (2014: 293/2013: 232). Nine out of ten people were male, with the prevalence being particularly high among homosexual men (80%), according to information from the LUA.

Increase in syphilis presumably due to altered risk behavior
This could be attributed to a change in risk behavior, explained the head of unit responsible in the State Investigation Institute, Heidrun Böhm, to the news agency "dpa". "HIV-infected people died very quickly from their illness in the past. Therefore, many homosexual men deliberately renounced sex or used condoms. This risk assessment seems to have shifted, "says the expert. By contrast, the number of gonorrhea infections in 2014, at over 700 people infected, was at the same high level as in the previous three years. But here, too, in the last ten years, a total of a drastic increase took place because in 2003, only about 300 cases were known.

Vogtlandkreis is considered as TBE risk area since this year
In addition, the report shows that even tick-borne infections have increased. Accordingly, the number of reported infections with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) increased from 12 cases in 2013 to 15 in 2014. Nine of the cases were registered in the Vogtlandkreis, which is why this is now considered as a risk area, so the information. "The best protection against the TBE virus offers a vaccine that is very well tolerated and effective," said the head of the LUA, Gerlinde Schneider in conversation with the "dpa". So far, there have only been three cases in the region so far this year.

For the current report in the field of human medicine alone, the LUA carried out approximately 88,000 individual serological tests on nearly 20,000 samples, including tests for hepatitis C, HIV and syphilis. According to their own statements, "a major challenge" was the large increase in the number of refugees and asylum seekers who were examined for different pathogens during the initial examination in order to detect possible infectious diseases at an early stage.

44 Food samples classified as hazardous or harmful
In addition, the State Investigation had examined 23,000 samples subject to food law, of which 12% were objectionable. The majority of cases were due to misleading and / or incomplete or otherwise incorrect labeling, but 44 samples should even have been classified as hazardous to health or hazardous to health, the information of the LUA. Health Minister Barbara Klepsch praised the institution during the presentation of the annual report, as its performance and expertise had been "impressively" demonstrated in the 2014 reporting year. "Whether it be in the official food and feed monitoring, in the control of multidrug-resistant pathogens (MRE) or when it comes to the hygiene of air inside rooms - our research institute has a very diverse range of tasks. The LUA is an important service provider for health in Saxony. "(Nr)