[Epidemiology of HIV. Update]

Abstract

In this decade, the global prevalence of HIV-1 infection stabilized at 0.8% (range: 0.7-0.9%). However, important regional differences in trends and mode of transmission: Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected by HIV. Since 2001, the number of people with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia increased from 650,000 to 1,5 million in 2007. Overall trends were stable in Central and Western Europe. Heterosexual and homosexual transmission accounts for the largest proportion in these regions. Transmission among injecting drug users has decreased. Similar trends have been observed in Italy: in 2007, there were 1,679 new diagnoses, equivalent to an incidence of 6,0 per 100,000 population. Over the years there has been a progressive increase in the proportion of diagnoses among women and in the median age at diagnosis, as well as changes in the exposure categories (i.e. a decrease in the proportion of injecting drug users and an increase in infections attributed to homosexual and heterosexual contacts). The era of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has resulted in a reduction of morbidity and mortality. Before the advent of cART in 1996, the main causes of morbidity and mortality in people with HIV were the opportunistic infections and malignancies AIDS associated.