Disturbing rise in undiagnosed HIV cases in Eastern Europe

The number of undiagnosed HIV cases is on the rise in Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia, the EU's disease control agency and WHO warned on Thursday (November 26th), which called for a better testing policy in the face of this virus which causes AIDS.

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HIV was detected in more than 136,000 people in 2019 in the region covered by the office for Europe of the World Health Organization, 80% of them in its eastern part.

The territory controlled by this body covers 53 countries, including Russia and several Central Asian states.

The report by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control - which covers, in addition to the EU, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway - and the WHO regional office, on the other hand, does not include data from the 'Andorra, Belgium, Monaco, North Macedonia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan which nevertheless fall under the latter agency.

About half of the HIV cases recorded in the European region have been diagnosed at an advanced stage of infection, "

" the authors of the report stressed.

This is "

" they added, calling for changes to make them more effective.

“

, ”said Andrea Ammon, who heads the European Center, in a statement.

The number of newly diagnosed HIV cases in this region "

" noted the authors of the report, according to which the number of "

" also.

On the other hand, in the only area covered by the European Center, these two figures have fallen (by 9% for the first).

Sexual contamination between men is the most common mode of transmission in this region, while that between heterosexuals and intravenous drugs are the most common modes of transmission in the eastern part of the region covered by the office of WHO.