SPAIN: NEW HIV/AIDS INFECTION RATES CONTINUED TO

UNCLAS MADRID 003144 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE, S/GAC, AND OES/IHA; DEPARTMENT ALSO PASS TO ESTH COLLECTIVE; HHS FOR OS/OGHA (TERRY GAY); CDC FOR GLOBAL AIDS PROGRAM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO SOCI KHIV SP SUBJECT: SPAIN: NEW HIV/AIDS INFECTION RATES CONTINUED TO DECLINE IN 2004 REF: A. 04 MADRID 4290 ¶B. 04 MADRID 3835 ¶1. Health Ministry 2004 statistics on HIV/AIDS in Spain, released August 16, indicate that new AIDS diagnoses declined 6.6 percent from 2003 to 2004 (from 2,218 new infections in 2003 to 2,071 in 2004). A sampling of some interesting statistics includes: -- 37.2 percent of those newly diagnosed were unaware that they were HIV positive; -- 57.7 percent of this 37.2 percent were infected via unprotected sexual relations (with a roughly even split between those infected via unprotected homosexual and heterosexual sex); -- 76.7 percent of all those who were newly diagnosed in 2004 were men; -- The average age of those newly diagnosed was 40.3 years (the average age has increased steadily since 1985, when the figure was 28 years); -- 45.7 percent of overall new infections were attributed to sexual transmission; -- Despite the overall decline in new infections, transmissions due to sexual relations between homosexual men increased 1.8 percent from 2003 to 2004; -- unprotected heterosexual relations was the cause of 52 percent of the new infections among females; -- overall transmissions linked to heterosexual sex declined 1.9 percent from 2003 to 2004 (from 617 to 605 cases); -- unprotected heterosexual sex was thus responsible for 29.2 percent of new infections in 2004; -- New infections among intravenous drug users declined 12 percent from 2003 to 2004 (from 1,089 cases to 958); -- four cases each were attributed in 2004 to mother-to-child transmission and blood transfusions; -- 14.5 percent of those newly infected are foreign nationals, with 64.4 percent of these cases coming from developing country nationals (mostly Africans and Latin Americans); -- the 2004 figures brings Spain to 71,039 total AIDS cases since the epidemic broke out in 1981; -- this makes Spain the second most affected state in Western Europe after Portugal; -- however, new infection rates have declined by 69 percent since 1996 (when anti-retroviral treatment became available). ¶2. COMMENT: Our Reftel analysis of HIV/AIDS in Spain remains unchanged. Spain's HIV/AIDS program is well-funded, well-managed and has proven effective in containing the spread of the HIV/AIDS in Spain. AGUIRRE