ESTONIA – HEALTH
While last year 125 patients were diagnosed with the disease, this year there are already 213.
According to the Health Development Institute, although the rate of HIV infection remains stubbornly high, there is no sign of a new outbreak.
«From 2011 to 2019, HIV incidence fell by an average of eight per cent, and compared to 2019, the fall was 15 per cent in 2020. Then the coronavirus pandemic started, which made it difficult to test for HIV», sais Iveta Tomera, senior infectious disease specialist at the Health Development Institute.
Another reason for this rapid increase in the number of infections is the addition of Ukrainian military refugees to the Estonian statistics. «Most of those who arrived in Estonia had previously been treated, they showed good adherence to treatment and the virus was under control in these patients», commented Kersti Kink, head doctor of the Centre for Infectious Diseases at Lääne-Tallinn Central Hospital.
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