[ad_1]
The HIV epidemic is not seen but it is not stopping. Despite the progressive decrease in new infection diagnoses since 2012, also confirmed in 2019 (2,531 compared to 3003 in 2018 and 4162 in 2012), recorded by the AIDS Operations Center of the Higher Institute of Health (ISS) in the latest report, The efforts of science have never resulted in a vaccine or a miracle cure for the virus.. For Sars Cov 2, on the other hand, in less than a year we are one step away from the antidote. “It is much more difficult to find an effective vaccine against HIV – declares Massimo Andreoni, Scientific Director of the Italian Society for Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit) and Director of Infectious Diseases of the Tor Vergata Polyclinic in Rome -. The two viruses have very different characteristics. HIV, unlike the new coronavirus, has a high mutation rate and is more elusive of the immunity produced by a potential vaccine. It would take many, personalized ones, and in any case it would not be enough, because HIV also changes within the single infected subject to the point of exhausting the response capacity of their immune system ”.
Another difference, explains the infectious disease specialist, refers to the mode of survival. “The HIV virus tends to integrate with the genome of our cells are therefore less recognizable, while Sars-Cov2 is constantly replicating, stimulating a specific immune response. “Almost 40 years after its discovery, the HIV virus, once contracted, can be kept under control, but the idea of its eradication is still a long way off. “I’ve been experimenting for a couple of years especially in the United States, from the gene therapies eradicate it from the cell genome using molecular scissors created in the laboratory – explains Andreoni -. The results are satisfactory at the moment, but they are very sophisticated techniques and little usable in mass therapy ”.
If, on the one hand, it is true that new HIV cases in Italy are constantly decreasing, with an incidence lower than that of the rest of the EU (4.2 new diagnoses per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 4.7), on the other hand, the test is too late. According to the ISS report, 60 percent of the people diagnosed in 2019 were already in an advanced stage of the disease despite having been positive for the virus for a long time. And since 2017 the proportion of late diagnoses has been on the rise: today a third discover the infection after the onset of symptoms (such as low fever and persistent diarrhea, weight loss, generalized lymphadenopathy). Then there is an undeclared one that worries. “Today we calculate 18 thousand people living in Italy with HIV infection but do not know they have it – Andreoni’s complaint -. These individuals need to be intercepted by implementing new screening strategies, such as HIV-tested campers in nightlife areas, to facilitate earlier diagnoses so that those infected immediately begin treatment and do not transmit the infection to others. Otherwise, the risk is that the body does not respond to the therapy and someone dies. If the immune system is already too compromised, pneumonia or AIDS-related tumors are more likely to develop.”.
The age groups most affected are those between 25 and 29 years old. (10.4 new cases per 100 thousand inhabitants) and between 30 and 39 years (9.8 new cases per 100 thousand inhabitants), highlights the ISS. And the incidence of men is four times that of women. Also, for the first time, the Institute reports, the proportion of new HIV diagnoses among homosexuals has reached the level attributable to heterosexual relationships (42 percent). “Even if – notes the scientific director of Simit – the incidence is the same, there is a higher prevalence among men who have sex with men because they are still numerically smaller.”
There is no vaccine against HIV, but infection can be prevented using condoms, the best weapon. The majority of new diagnoses (84.5 percent), according to the ISS, are in fact due to unprotected sex. “The condom protects against all other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as against unwanted pregnancy. That is why – Andreoni emphasizes – they are necessary awareness campaigns throughout the year and sex education in the classroom“Another method of prevention is pre-exposure prophylaxis (known as prep).” It is prescribed by the specialist in outpatient clinics for sexually transmitted diseases and is paid for. But the condom – repeats the doctor – protects against all other infections and it is cheaper ”.
[ad_2]
