80 people with HIV die in Russia every day

Since the beginning of the year, more than 14 thousand people who were diagnosed with HIV infection have died in Russia. During the same time, 52.7 thousand infected people were identified in the country. According to the Federal AIDS Center, the high incidence rate has remained, and the epidemic has spread from vulnerable groups “to the general population.”

Every day in Russia, 80 people with HIV infection die. This is evidenced by data from the Federal Scientific and Methodological Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS for the first half of 2017, reports AIDS.CENTER. As of June 30, 2017, 1,167,581 people were registered in the country who were diagnosed with HIV infection; Since the beginning of the year, 14,631 HIV-positive Russians have died.

During the first half of the year, 52,766 new cases of the disease were recorded in Russian regions, which is 3.3% more than in the first half of 2016. It is noted that only 32.9% of identified patients with HIV receive antiretroviral therapy.

This year, the infection was predominantly detected in Russians aged 30–40 years (47%) and 40–50 years (22%), while in 2000, 87% of people with HIV were diagnosed before the age of 30. Over the past two years, 50.3% acquired the infection through heterosexual contact, 1.9% through homosexual contact, and 46.6% through injection drug use. During the same time, 382 infants received the virus from their mother.

Over the past six months, nine cases of infection were recorded in medical organizations: seven people became infected from using unsterile instruments and two from blood transfusions.

“Thus, in the country in 2017, the HIV epidemic situation continued to worsen. The incidence of HIV infection remained high, the number of deaths of HIV-infected people increased, and the spread of the epidemic from vulnerable groups to the general population intensified,” says the report of the Federal AIDS Center. According to the organization, the forecast for the development of the situation “remains unfavorable.”

Source: AIDS.CENTER .