New HIV cases down by 10.8%
Last year, 356 new cases of HIV were reported and in total, there are about 3,764 people with HIV.
The HPSC revealed on World AIDS Day that up to 178 of those diagnosed last year were heterosexuals, which is half of all new cases. This compares to 223 in 2003 and 232 in 2002. However, 39 of the new cases did not give information on which risk group they fitted and so they could potentially fit this group, the HPSC warned. A total of 192 of those diagnosed in 2004 were male, and 161 were female while gender was unknown for three cases.
Of the 305 cases who revealed where they came from, 136 were born in Ireland and 130 cases were born in sub-Saharan Africa.
There was a drop in the number of new diagnoses among men who have sex with men, with 62 cases being detected during 2004, compared to 75 for the previous year.
A big jump was reported, however, in the number of new diagnoses among injecting drug users, with 71 testing positive during 2004 compared to 49 in 2003.
In all, 41 people were diagnosed with AIDS at the same time as HIV diagnosis, meaning they would not have had the opportunity to benefit from treatment prior to AIDS diagnosis.
HPSC public health medicine specialist Dr Mary Cronin said the figures highlight the continuing need for appropriate prevention and treatment services for all risk groups, including migrants and ethnic communities.
“The number of people living with HIV is growing and given the increases in sexually transmitted diseases which facilitate the transmission of HIV infection, people should heed the safe sex message.”
Mother to child transmission of HIV can be dramatically reduced or prevented by appropriate treatment and intervention measures. “A policy to recommend and offer antenatal HIV screening was introduced in 1999. Of a total of 113 babies born to HIV infected mothers during 2004, only one was diagnosed with HIV infection, underlining the success of antenatal screening.”
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