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HIV: 45,000 deaths in Italy in 40 years, today it can be treated

2021-11-30T15:25:54.335Z


Many achievements in treatment, but also many new problems in the management of an epidemic that has claimed a total of 45,000 victims in Italy alone: ​​this is how 40 years of AIDS are celebrated on the World Day which falls like every year tomorrow, 1 says ... (ANSA)


(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 30 - Many goals achieved in treatment, but also many new problems in the management of an epidemic that has claimed a total of 45,000 victims in Italy alone: ​​this is how 40 years of AIDS are celebrated in the Day world that falls like every year tomorrow, December 1st.

This is explained by three generations of doctors who at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome have succeeded in assisting patients with HIV and AIDS, with the same commitment and enthusiasm of the early days.


    The problems of the present are in some ways even more subtle than 40 years ago when there was no treatment, and are declined in six cases out of 10 of the disease diagnosed late, in an increase in Italian women infected with the virus and in an increase in 'unsuspected' infected, from professionals to university students. The problem of early diagnosis - on which prompt and effective treatments depend - remains more thorny than ever since the Covid emergency is being faced. In fact, SARS-Cov-2 has caused many infectious disease clinics to 'close' during lockdowns. But never that of Gemini which has always remained open, even for people infected with HIV / AIDS. Not by chance "from March 2020 to April 2021 - remembers the infectious specialist Simona Di Giambenedetto,UOC Infectious Diseases of the Gemelli University Hospital IRCCS - we diagnosed 54 new cases, a figure clearly in contrast with the rest of Italy (in all of 2020, the diagnoses of AIDS in Italy were just 1,303).


    The age group most affected by new diagnoses is between 25 and 29 years.


    AIDS is still a life-threatening disease without proper treatment. "In short, we must not let our guard down - reflects the infectious disease specialist of Gemelli Elena Visconti - and it is necessary to accept the idea that it is a disease of 'everyone' and therefore, all those with risky behaviors should be screened".


    "Since 1981, the year in which the first cases of AIDS were reported


    - explains the director of Infectious Diseases Roberto Cauda - extraordinary results have been obtained, allowing HIV to be successfully treated in the same way as other chronic diseases.


    From the 'desperation' of the early years we have moved on to 'hope' and today to 'cure' ", he recalls. But the struggle is not yet over, the goal set by the WHO is to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. (HANDLE).


Source: ansa

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