A few days before World AIDS Day, organized on December 1, the National Institute for Public Health Surveillance (Invs) recalls that if the arrival of antiretroviral treatmentshelped control the disease, it did little to slow the epidemic. This is still active, with an average of 7,000 to 8,000 new contaminations per year in France.
“The asymptomatic phase of the disease being very long, of the order of 10 years, people whose HIV infection is not diagnosed are at the origin of more than half of these new contaminations” explains François Bourdillon, Managing Director of Invs, in the Weekly epidemiological bulletin.
5.2 million screenings in 2013
In 2013, 5.2 million HIV tests were carried out in laboratories, or 80 per 1,000 inhabitants, a number that has remained stable since 2011. Among these tests, 11,278 were confirmed positive, or 172 per million inhabitants: a number up by 7% compared to 2011 at the national level (an increase recorded everywhere except in Ile-de-France).
“This increase suggests that testing offers are better targeted. But despite all these efforts, the number of people who do not know they are HIV positive is not decreasing. About 30% of people who find out they are HIV positive are already at the stage. AIDS or at a low immune level, which means that they are tested several years after their infection, “emphasizes François Bourdillon.
Rapid diagnostic tests: they reach a new audience
In addition to the laboratory screening activity, around 56,500 rapid diagnostic orientation tests (TROD) were carried out in 2013 by associations and prevention structures. A higher number than in previous years: 4,000 in 2011 and 31,700 in 2012. For these rapid tests, all you have to do is take a drop of blood and put it in contact with a reactive solution to find out whether or not you are a carrier of the virus.
The public reached by this community screening has diversified: homosexual men, who made up 69% of people screened by TROD in 2011, only represented 30% in 2013. The share of migrants fell from 1% in 2011 to 27%. in 2013, that of drug users remained stable (4% in 2011, 5% in 2013) like that of prostitutes (1% in 2011, 2% in 2013). On the other hand, the number of people not belonging to these target audiences has increased over the years, from 16% in 2011 to 36% in 2013.
Note that one in three people tested had never been tested for HIV in their lifetime.
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