- LONDON (Reuters) - The number
of women being diagnosed with HIV in Europe is quickly catching up on men,
researchers said on Wednesday, carrying with it the risk of more babies
being born to infected mothers.
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- Healthcare marketing agency Isis Research Plc said that
in the United States, however, homosexual transmission remained the dominant
route of infection.
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- Isis looked at data on 3,000 European patients on anti-HIV
therapy from July to October 2002 and found that 308 had been newly diagnosed
with HIV earlier that year.
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- Of these, 51 percent were infected through heterosexual
contact and only 36 percent as a result of homosexual contact.
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- This contrasted with the picture 10 years ago when the
split was 28 percent heterosexual against 38 percent homosexual.
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- However, in the United States, where ISIS also examined
data on 3,000 patients, infections via homosexual contact accounted for
51 percent of new HIV diagnoses against 31 percent for heterosexuals.
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- Amanda Zeffman, HIV analyst at ISIS, told Reuters numerous
factors including ethnic origins and awareness campaigns accounted for
the differences between Europe and the U.S.
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- However the gap between the two continents was narrowing
and would eventually disappear as more heterosexuals became infected in
the U.S, she added.
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- The report said that in Europe the number of females
being diagnosed with HIV was "fast catching up with the number of
males."
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- It went on: "This rise in female patients carries
with it the risk of a rise in the number of babies born to HIV-infected
mothers.
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- "(This) in turn brings potential issues such as
which treatments to use or avoid during pregnancy and at the time of birth,
to prevent transmission of the virus to the baby."
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- On a positive note, the report said initiatives to supply
drug users with sterile needles seemed to have been effective in Europe,
with HIV transmission via intravenous drug use now almost eradicated in
France, Germany and the UK and significantly reduced in Spain and Italy.
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- However in the U.S, where needle exchange programs were
less widespread, infection rates had dropped less.
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- "Europe has come a long way toward minimizing the
spread of HIV via intravenous drug use but governments must now turn their
attention to the rise in transmission via heterosexual contact," Zeffman
said.
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- It appeared that despite all the evidence about AIDS,
many European heterosexuals were continuing to live in denial of the fact
that they could be at risk.
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- "Whilst a return to the shock awareness campaigns
of the early 90s may not be welcomed, it is clear there is a great need
for a new awareness campaign if the spread of infection via this route
is to be minimized in the coming years," Zeffman added.
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