NEW DATA SHOWS HIV CASES DOWN 10.8%
Irish Times 15/06/2005

BY EITHNE DONNELLAN, HEALTH CORRESPONDENT

Just one of 113 babies born last year ended up testing HIV-positive, according to figures published by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HSPSC) yesterday. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV can be dramatically reduced or prevented if the mother is given special treatment to prevent her passing on the infection before or during her pregnancy.

All pregnant women are offered HIV screening and, while uptake is voluntary, at least 95 per cent of women opt for it. Dr Mary Cronin, a specialist in public health medicine with the HSPSC, said the fact that only one of a total of 113 babies born to HIV-infection underlined the success of the antenatal screening programme.

Her comments came as the HSPSC published figures for all newly diagnosed HIV infections in the State in 2004. They indicate there were 356 newly diagnosed cases last year, a 10.8 per cent reduction on the previous year. The average age of those diagnosed was 31 years, and 130 of those infected had been born in sub-Saharan Africa. Some 192 of those diagnosed were male, 161 were female and gender was unknown in three cases. In five cases the diagnoses was made in children.

Half of the infections were acquired through heterosexual contact. Of the remainder, some 62 cases were diagnosed among gay men and 71 among injecting drug-users. To date, a total of 3,764 cases of HIV infection have been reported in the Republic. back to top