Although the incidence of the AIDS virus has been decreasing in recent years, the contagion of this disease is still present. In Lanzarote, 13 new cases were registered last year in Lanzarote, while 268 were detected throughout the Canary Islands. The figure represents a slight decrease compared to the previous two years, but an increase compared to 2011 and 2012, when only 6 and 7 new cases emerged on this island, respectively.
This is reflected in the data from the latest Epidemiological Bulletin of the Canary Islands, which shows that a total of 4,094 cases have been detected on the islands since 2000, while in Lanzarote the total figure stands at 228. During that time, the worst year on the island was 2006, when 31 new cases were registered. It is followed by 2007, with 27 new infections; 2008, with 22; and 2010, with 21. The following two years the figures decreased to a third, but rebounded in 2013, with 18 new cases registered; and in 2014, with 17.
As for the profile of the patients, it has also varied over the years. According to data made public this Friday by the Public Health area of the Government of the Canary Islands, until 2005 cases of contagion between heterosexual people predominated in the islands. However, from then on, contagion between homosexuals began to predominate. In 2015, that figure reached 72.80 percent of the total number of infections through sexual relations.
Transmission by injected drugs falls to 0.7 percent
Regarding other routes of contagion, transmission among users of injected drugs has progressively decreased in the Canary Islands since 2000, "reaching the minimum in 2015", with 0.7 percent of the total, according to data from the Canary Islands Government. Regarding mortality, in 2015 4 deaths were reported in the islands due to this disease, which represents 1.5 percent of the new cases detected during that year. In total, since 2000, 249 people have died in the Canary Islands from this cause.
Of the new cases detected in 2015, 90.3 percent are men and most are between 30 and 39 years old, with the cause of infection in 90.60 percent of cases being unprotected sexual intercourse, both homosexual (72.80%) and heterosexual (27.20%). According to the origin of the cases, 79.6 percent are Spanish, 4.6 percent European, 3.7 percent African, 11.1 percent of American origin and 0.9 percent Asian.
With these data in hand, the general director of Public Health of the Canary Islands Health Service, Ricardo Redondas, reported this Friday on the strategic line "Zero HIV in the Canary Islands", which is followed in the prevention and control of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. As he said at the press conference, the objective is "to increase knowledge about these infections, reduce their incidence, promote early diagnosis, improve access to early treatment and guarantee equality in access to prevention and health care for people with HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)."
Depending on the profile drawn by the statistics of detected cases, the 2016 Action Plan adapts its strategic line to direct campaigns to the most affected sectors. Among other things, this Program aims to facilitate the detection of HIV/STI infection, by bringing tests closer to particularly vulnerable population groups, as well as carrying out information and prevention campaigns.
