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A man is doing a home HIV test
Photo: Britta Pedersen / picture alliance / dpa
In Germany, the number of estimated new HIV infections fell in the past year.
In 2020, around 2,000 people were newly infected with HIV, around 300 fewer than in the previous year, as the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced in Berlin.
At the end of last year, the number of infected people rose to a total of 91,400.
According to the agency, an estimated 9,500 people were unaware of their infection in 2020.
The estimated number of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men was around 1,100 last year, a decrease of 300 new infections from the previous year.
Around 370 people were infected with HIV through intravenous drug use in 2020; this number has been increasing at a low level for around ten years.
Around 530 people in Germany became infected through heterosexual contacts.
Corona pandemic could have resulted in fewer new infections
HIV diagnoses are often not made years after infection.
According to the RKI, the data therefore only provide limited information on the current spread of HIV in Germany.
The number of new HIV infections and the total number of infected people can only be estimated using model calculations.
The decline in new infections estimated for 2020 could therefore be attributed to lower transmission risks due to the restriction of sexual contact during the corona pandemic and to the prevention of new infections through so-called pre-exposure prophylaxis.
These are drugs that HIV-negative people can take to protect themselves from infection if they have come into contact with the pathogen.
According to the RKI, however, a reduced number of routine tests and thus the elimination of diagnoses could also play a role.
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As the RKI further reported, last year Germany achieved all the targets set by Unaids - the joint United Nations program for HIV / AIDS - formulated 90-90-90.
Since 2011, the proportion of HIV infections treated with antiretroviral has been over 90 percent, of which around 96 percent are considered successfully treated.
In addition, around 90 percent of those infected with HIV were diagnosed in Germany for the first time in 2020.
According to Unaids, 37.7 million people worldwide were living with HIV in 2020, so around 6.1 million were unaware of their infection.
If left untreated, an infection leads to increasing damage to the body's own immune system and, as a result, often to death.
However, the development of the immune deficiency disease AIDS can now be prevented with medication.
mar / afp
