As World AIDS Day takes place tomorrow, Why Doctor offers you a series summarizing the latest French studies published on this disease that young people know little about. Today, focus on how Covid-19 impacts HIV testing and carriers of this virus.
- In France, 173,000 people are living with HIV.
- This virus affects the immune defences, that is to say, it prevents the body from defending itself against diseases.
On the occasion of World AIDS Day, Public Health France publishes new data on the disease. “The Covid-19 pandemic should not make us forget that the HIV pandemic that has been running for 40 years is not over”, recalls in an editorial Bruno Spire, director of research (Aix Marseille University, Inserm, IRD, SESSTIM, ISSPAM). “The virus is still circulating, those affected are not cured, the sick must face lifelong treatment and there are still no vaccines”he points out.
Overall HIV positivity rate on the rise
In 2020, the overall rate of HIV positivity was up very slightly from that seen in 2018, according to new research by Gilles Delmas, who analyzed individual data transmitted by thehe free information, screening and diagnosis centers (CeGIDD). Furthermore, the detection rates for syphilis and Chlamydia remained stable while the detection rate for gonococcal infection increased.
“These developments must however be interpreted taking into account the drop in CeGIDD attendance in 2020 due to the health crisis”, analyzes Bruno Spire. This attendance fell sharply in the second quarter of 2020, when the first confinement was introduced (-58% of consultations between the first and second quarters). A second more moderate drop was observed in November (-23%), corresponding to the second period of confinement.
“A sense of injustice”
“Containments have also had a particular psychosocial impact on the experience of HIV-positive people, as reported in the new study by Myriam Campal”adds the research director. “The Covid-19 pandemic has awakened the concerns that HIV patients may have already experienced in the face of certain similarities between pandemics”, he continues. In other words, Covid-19 has reactivated fears once experienced with HIV: disease arriving from abroad, non-specific symptoms, high mortality, long-awaited treatment, anxiety-provoking communication.
“This may have provoked a withdrawal into oneself, a fear of exclusion and serophobia. A feeling of injustice also developed among the people with HIV compared to the speed of the availability of vaccines against Covid-19 and not against HIV”, concludes Bruno Spire. 36.3 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic.
.
