Rise in spread of HIV through sex

27 February 2004

MADRID – The number of cases of Aids in Spain decreased by 5.5 percent in 2003, officials said Friday.

There were 2,126 cases diagnosed last year, representing a fall in comparison with 2002, according to officials from the Foundation for the Investigation and Prevention of Aids in Spain (FIPSE).

But there was a rise in the number of cases in which HIV was transmitted during sex, which accounted for 42 percent of  all cases.

Officials from FIPSE emphasised the importance of using methods of prevention and  protection to stop the spread of HIV.
 
In one third of the new cases of Aids – or more than 50 percent of which were transmitted  through sex – patients did not  know they had Aids until they developed the illness.

This meant it was too late for any treatment.

Almost half the cases of Aids last year were contracted through drug use.

But at the same time, officials said, more cases of  the transmission of HIV through sex were being detected.

Nearly a third of cases where the virus was transmitted through sex involved heterosexual partners.

Officials stressed this had “special relevance” for women, who made up 49 percent of all HIV cases.

The number of deaths from Aids has decreased considerably in Spain, from 5,741 in 1996 to  1,797 in 2000.

There has been a large fall (60 percent) in the number of cases of Aids, thanks to the wider use of anti-virus treatments.

The majority of cases of Aids are still in men (80 percent), most in their 40s. This is a change from 1985, when the epidemic first came to light, when the average age was 28.
 
The Health Ministry emphasised the importance of fighting the spread of Aids and gave EUR 1.5 billion to help fund FIPSE. 

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

                                              Subject: Spanish news