Germany and situation of HIV/AIDS

In a study among STI patients diagnosed with gonorrhoea, chlamydia, syphilis or trichonomiasis, MSM were coinfected with HIV in almost half of the cases, while only one out of 290 sex workers were coinfected with HIV. 10 out of 228 young people (>25 years of age) were coinfected with HIV.

Several thousands facilities in Germany provide HIV testing and approximately 2 000 000 people were tested for HIV in 2006. HIV testing is systematic among blood donors and recommended for pregnant women. Laboratories (since 1987) and clinicians (since 1998) anonymously report newly diagnosed HIV cases to a national database. Since 1993, HIV laboratory reports have differentiated between newly diagnosed infections and already diagnosed patients. Clinician reports are available for more than 90% of the new cases since 1998 and contain a name-based code to allow detection of duplicate reports.

By the end of 2007, German authorities estimated that a total 86 000 HIV infections have occurred since the start of the epidemic and that approximately 59 000 PLHIV live in Germany.
30 000-35 000 people with HIV were seen regularly for medical care for their condition during 2006. The number of patients receiving HAART increased from 18 000 in 2002 to 27 000 by December 2006 (65% MSM, 16% IDUs and 16% heterosexuals).Of those tested for coinfections with hepatitis B/C (approximately two-thirds of all PLHIV seen for medical care in 2006), 53% were hepatitis B coinfected and 37% hepatitis C coinfected.

By the end of 2006, the cumulative number of reported mother-to-child transmission was 177. In 2006 alone, HIV infected mothers gave birth to 250-300 infants, of which 14 were confirmed to be infected with HIV. According to reports, more than 95% of the mothers and the infants received ARV prophylaxis and 20-30% had a vaginal delivery.

Updated June 2008

References:
European Centre for Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS (EuroHIV). HIV/AIDS surveillance in Europe. End-year report 2006. Saint-Maurice: Institut de Veille Sanitaire, 2007. No. 75.

WHO Regional Office for Europe. Sexually transmitted infections/HIV/AIDS programme. WHO/Europe survey on HIV/AIDS and antiretroviral therapy 2006. WHO: Copenhagen; 2007

The European HIV Prevalence Database: (Webpage) http://eurohiv-database.invs.sante.fr

WHO Regional Office for Europe. Centralized Information System for Infectious Diseases, CISID (webpage): http://data.euro.who.int/cisid

UNGASS country progress report, Germany, Reporting period: January 2006-December 2007