HIV spreading all over Europe but Aids cases on the decline

HIV infections continued to rise in Europe last year, but, thanks to treatment, cases of full-blown Aids have dramatically declined.

“The new data raises concern about the continuing transmission of HIV in Europe,” the World Health Organisation’s Europe office and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said in a joint report.

Last year, 27,116 new cases of HIV infections were recorded in the EU and the European Economic Area, an increase of around four per cent from 2009, according to the report published to coincide with World Aids Day on Wednesday.

“In contrast, the steady decrease of Aids cases continued in 2010 with 4,666 reported cases in the EU/EEA region,” it said, stressing that statisics from Austria and Liechtenstein had not been available.

This was a drop of almost 50 per cent from 2004.

The report also stressed the importance of early HIV detection for reining in the Aids epidemic.

According to the UN a record 34 million people worldwide lived with HIV last year, while improved treatment has meant that the number of AIDS-linked deaths has steadily dropped from a peak of 2.2 million in 2005 to 1.8 million last year.

Half of those eligible for treatment are now receiving it, something that saved the lives of 700,000 people in 2010.

“We need to demonstrate the political courage to focus on key populations most affected by HIV and address the issue of late diagnosis of HIV infection,” ECDC chief Marc Sprenger said in a statement issued by the Stockholm-based EU agency.

ECDC and WHO researchers noted that “HIV epidemics are remarkably distinct in individual countries but overall, HIV continues to disproportionately affect certain key populations.”

HIV in Europe is still mainly transmitted through sex between men, while in cases of heterosexual contact, about one third of the reported cases originate with people from countries facing general epidemics of the virus.