HIV, record number of new diagnoses in Lazio. Milan reduces cases

The 16th edition of ICAR – Italian Conference on AIDS and Antiviral Research will be held in the capital from 19 to 21 June. Over a thousand people at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Mayor Gualtieri also expected

ROME – Lazio is configured as the Italian region with the highest incidence of HIV. According to data from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 293 new HIV diagnoses were notified in the Lazio Region in 2022, in over 60% of cases in an advanced stage, for an incidence of 4.8 x 100 thousand residents, higher than the national average. which is 3.2 x 100 thousand. The incidence is even higher in the city of Rome (5.2 x 100 thousand). Lazio and Rome are respectively the region and the city with the greatest incidence in Italy: a worrying fact, which however further validates the Capitoline location of the 16th edition of ICAR – Italian Conference on AIDS and Antiviral Research https://www.icar2024.it/, held from 19 to 21 June in Rome at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Europa Congress Center, Largo Francesco Vito, 1.

WHEN WILL WE BE ABLE TO HAVE A CAPITAL WITH ZERO CASES OF HIV?

ICAR will be an opportunity for scientific insights, training activities, but above all a starting point for launching new service proposals in the area, as happens in many cities that have become Fast-Track Cities, i.e. cities that work to achieve the objectives of the WHO (95-95-95). One of these could be checkpoints that provide information, rapid tests and direct referral to specialized infectious disease centers where necessary. The Mayor was also invited Roberto Gualtieriwhose hoped-for participation will be an opportunity to propose the Zero HIV Infections objective and to promote the Capital’s entry into the Fast-Track cities project.

HIV DATA 2022: LAZIO, NUMBERS TO REFLECT ON

In Italy today there are just over 140 thousand people living with HIV, of which around 10 thousand are unaware of their infection status. Recently the National Surveillance System of the ISS counted just under two thousand new infections every year; in 2022 it reported 1,888 new diagnoses, of which 58% of these diagnoses were in the advanced stages of the disease.

“The most recent data confirm the need to spread the test more widely in order to be able to intervene when there is still time to limit the consequences of the infection – underlines the Professor Antonella CingolaniICAR co-president – Antiretroviral therapy, in fact, allows people with HIV to make the infection chronic and to have a quality of life similar to the general population. Furthermore, if the therapy is taken regularly, the viremia can be eliminated to the point of making the virus non-transmittable, as established by the equation U=U, Undetectable=Untransmittable. Analyzing regional data, the negative record of Lazio emerges, where the incidence of new diagnoses per 100 thousand residents is 4.8, higher than the rest of the country. By virtue of its characteristics, Lazio has always been one of the regions with the highest number of infections, but unlike other areas, such as Lombardy, it has not managed to reverse the trend. The causes can be different. One of the elements still lacking is the diffusion of information points, rapid tests and prevention tools throughout the territory even outside the reference hospitals. In some cities, the spread of checkpoints, often managed by associations, has certainly promoted awareness and encouraged a more complete approach to the prevention of the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases”.

THE RESULTS OF MILAN “FAST-TRACK CITY”

The Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala has signed the Municipality’s adhesion to the international project to fight HIV ‘Fast Track Cities‘ in 2018. The entry of the Lombardy capital into this global network made it possible to achieve important results, given that Milan was for years the city with the most cases of contagion in Italy.

“The decline in new diagnoses in a metropolis like Milan, characterized by a varied society and very diversified socioeconomic realities, has a profound significance – underlines the Professor Giulia Carla MarchettiICAR co-president –. In recent years, services have spread that allow messages to be conveyed for the prevention and treatment of HIV. The checkpoints in the area are characterized by the absence of barriers and the presence of ‘peers’, sometimes people with HIV, with whom the user can have an informative conversation on the risks of contagion from HIV and Sexually Infections Transmitted. In these places it is possible to take rapid tests and, if necessary, be directed to infectious disease centers. A fast track city is not only characterized by checkpoints, but also by local initiatives, such as tests and information brought to those directly involved without mediation in the nightlife areas. A multiplicity of actions that allow us to diversify our efforts to achieve the desired result: early diagnosis, start of therapy, reduction of infections, according to the principle of ‘treatment as prevention’”.

“The Milanese checkpoint in which the various associations of the Community collaborated with activities such as rapid tests and then also with the activation of the PrEP center outside the healthcare context were very important elements in promoting early diagnoses – explains Massimo FarinellaICAR co-president –. In Rome there are various activities, but the leap in quality with joining the fast track cities project would allow the various initiatives to be better systematized and implemented, even those that take place outside the healthcare context, also allowing for greater diffusion of PrEP However, the effort must be collective and requires the use of resources: behind a fast track city there is a network of institutions that supports the activities of all the subjects, clinical centers, associations and other community based services that operate through a planned strategy to achieve UNAIDS goals”.

ICAR RETURNS TO ROME AFTER 6 YEARS

Icar returns to Rome and it is no coincidence. The 16th edition of ICAR returns to the capital after six years. Over a thousand specialists and clinicians, young researchers, nurses, social workers, volunteers from patient associations are expected for an initiative that confirms itself as a point of reference for the scientific community on the subject of HIV-AIDS, Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Infections and viral. ICAR is organized under the aegis of SIMIT, Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, of all the major scientific societies in the infectious and virological area and in the world of the Community. Precisely the SIMIT president Roberto Parrella reiterated the importance of addressing the new challenges posed by HIV. The presidents of this edition of ICAR are Prof.ssa Antonella Cingolani, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Catholic University, Rome; Prof. Antonio Di BiagioAssociate Professor of Infectious Diseases, University of Genoa; Massimo Farinella, Health Manager Mario Mieli Club; Prof Giulia Carla MarchettiFull Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Milan.