HIV infections in Germany up 20%
The number of people in Germany becoming infected with HIV jumped by 20 per cent in the first half of this year, a leading scientific institute said today.
A total of 1,164 people became infected with the virus between January and June, 60 per cent of them gay men, the Robert Koch Institute said.
It didn’t provide an exact figure for the first half of 2004. The institute said an analysis of new cases showed the risk of infection for homosexual men in Germany had doubled in the past four years and was at the highest level in more than a decade.
Men aged between 25 and 45 in major cities were most at risk.
“Developments regarding this avoidable infection is a reason for concern,” institute president Reinhard Kurth said.
“Further efforts are required to explain and get across that despite improved therapy there is no cure.”
