The HIV epidemic is stabilizing in the world

Good news, one regular and one bad. All from the same data, which reveals the new UNAIDS report on the status of the epidemic in the world. In 2009, 2.6 million people became infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The good news is that are 19% less than those recorded in 1999, the regular is that, although infections down, do so at a slow pace. And the bad, the figure is still too high and the HIV epidemic.
In all live in the world 33.3 million people with HIV, a number almost identical, except for some adjustments, to the previous report, indicating that the epidemic is stabilizing. But within this dynamic stabilization we observed some changes. For example, in Central and Western Europe, North America and Central Asia there are signs that the virus is a resurgence among men who have sex with men, something that experts have long warned. On the positive side, in some African countries are seen less risky sexual practices that some years ago and the HIV epidemic.

HIV epidemic in the World

The data highlighted in the report given that 52% of people with HIV are women, a 'feminization' of the epidemic is also seen for years. And 68% of those infected live in sub-Saharan Africa, which continues to suffer more than any other region of the ravages of the virus, with more than 1.8 million new infections, more women than men last year and the HIV epidemic..
With regard to HIV transmission from mother to child can see that everyone involved in the fight against AIDS have begun to take this issue seriously. In 2009, the virus infected 370,000 children under five years, a high number but it represents 24% less than just five years ago. The extension of antiretroviral therapy has also reduced the number of AIDS-related deaths, which rose from 2.1 million in 2004 to 1.8 million in 2009. Along with the increased distribution of drugs, has also been a greater distribution of condoms, 10 million more than last year and the HIV epidemic..

HIV epidemic is stabilizing in the world

-22 In 33 countries are in Africa, HIV prevalence has declined by 25% in a decade. However, the same percentage which has increased the incidence of the virus in seven places: Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines and Tajikistan and the HIV epidemic..

But although there are more people receiving treatment and more countries are facing the epidemic successfully, we must not forget that in some places the virus continues to spread unchecked. This is the case in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where the number of people with HIV has tripled in just a decade, reaching 1.4 million infected in 2009. Of this, 90% comes from Russia and Ukraine, the epicenter of AIDS in Europe. Injecting drug use and paid sex are the two mainstream pathways by which HIV enters the bodies of the inhabitants of these two countries, which have a high prevalence of AIDS in prisons and the HIV epidemic..

19% of gay men and bisexuals in the U.S. have HIV

One in five gay men and bisexuals in the 21 major U.S. cities are infected with HIV, and half of them do not know, said the country's health officials said Thursday.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that young men, especially blacks, are the least know if they have contracted the virus."For young men who have sex with others, including blacks who are the least aware they are infected, the future is truly at stake," he said in a statement Jonathan Mermin, director of the division of HIV prevention / CDC AIDS, gays and HIV.

Mermin said that "it is important to reach this group with early prevention services and HIV testing, and continue offering these vital services as they grow older."The study was the evidence of this disease in 8,153 men who had sex with other men in 21 cities as part of National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System 2008,gays and HIV. which examined the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus and its spread awareness among this group of men.

HIV in U.S.

The results found that 28% of black men who have sex with men were infected with HIV, compared with 18% of Hispanics and 26% of whites.The rate of HIV among this group of men is strongly affected by reason of education and income gays and HIV., which, according to the authors, the lower socio-economic status of the person most likely is that they have HIV.Age is also an important factor in whether men know they are infected with HIV. Among infected men aged 18 to 29 years, 63% did not know, compared with 37% of men over 30 years.This is particularly disturbing because the CDC estimated that STIs are transmitted mostly by people who are unaware they are infected gays and HIV..Mermin said the results show that HIV remains a serious problem in the United States and called for a commitment on the part of national efforts to protect the health of gay men.

HIV, out of control among French gays

Control. So the researchers defined the Institute of Public Health French state of the AIDS epidemic in men who have sex with men (MSM). While other groups, the number of new HIV infections has declined between 2003 and 2008, in the group of men who sleep with each other not only has not decreased but has been increasing, according to an analysis published by the journal 'The Lancet Infectious Diseasesand the French gays with AIDS. "Of the 6940 new HIV diagnoses were recorded in France in 2008, compared to 8930 there were in 2003 - was 48% in the group of MSM.

AIDS in France

"Sexual transmission of the virus is out of control between these men," says the author of the analysis that assesses the status of the AIDS epidemic in France.The percentage of infections in this group of people is "alarmingly high," says Hogg Robert, HIV Center of Vancouver British Colombia (Canada), who signs an editorial on the subject and the French gays with AIDS. And even more worrisome when compared with users of intravenous drugs, which accounted for only 1% of new cases.The situation in France is not far from that of other countries. In Spain, one in three HIV diagnoses occur in men with homosexual relationships, while in the U.S. this population is half of the diagnoses.

French gays with AIDS

The analysis points to "the increase in unprotected anal intercourse and increasing the number of sexual partners" as a possible explanation to justify the spread of the virus in these men and the French gays with AIDS. "The increase of syphilis and other venereal diseases are also playing their role," he stated.Either way, experts agree on the need for new strategies that specifically target this group, given that the current alternatives are not succeeding.
Along with the MSM, the other most vulnerable to the virus is the immigrant, especially women. The French data show that 23% of all infections is for non-French citizens, and especially sub-Saharan African people  and the French gays with AIDS.