Germany reports sharp rise in HIV infections
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The number of confirmed HIV infections in Germany rose sharply in the first half of this year, which the government said was a worrying trend that indicated the deadly virus was not being taken seriously enough.
The number of HIV infections jumped to 1,164 in the first half of 2005, a 20 percent rise over the first half of 2004, the Robert Koch Institute, the government’s central disease control centre, said in a statement.
Although the number of cases is not huge when compared with the hardest hit countries in Africa and Asia, Germany’s health ministry said the trend was worrying and may indicate a failure of some people to view HIV/AIDS as a serious threat.
“The German health minister considers this a serious development and says the rise in HIV infections is worrying. Unfortunately, it is often the case that HIV/AIDS is no longer taken seriously as a life-threatening disease,” ministry spokeswoman Dagmar Reitenbach told a government news conference.
Reinhard Kurth, president of the Robert Koch Institute, said it was necessary to explain clearly to the public that there is no way of curing the HIV virus, which gradually destroys the immune systems of its victims.
“More efforts must be made to explain and inform people that despite an improvement in therapy, there is no cure for this disease,” he said.
The institute said homosexual males accounted for nearly 60 percent of the new HIV infections.
“The risk of HIV infection for male homosexual contact in Germany is nearly twice what it was 12 years ago,” it added.
The institute said the HIV risk for males was roughly 7.5 times greater than for women in Germany. Most of the new infections were in males between the ages of 25 and 45.
The most significant HIV risk factor for women in Germany is sexual contact with males from other high-risk groups - men from countries with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, intravenous drug users and men who have had homosexual contact.
The institute said Germany’s large urban centres - Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt - had the highest HIV risk.
An estimated 40 million people worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2004. Africa, with about 25 million cases, is the most seriously affected region of the globe.
About half of all people with the virus are women.
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