海角社区 study: Half of HIV spread by newly infected
Team followed patients in Montreal clinics over eight years
A new study led by 海角社区 researchers shows that half of all HIV transmissions happen when newly infected people don鈥檛 know they are carrying the virus and may not even test positive for it.
The study, published in the April edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases and already available online, followed 2,500 patients in eight Montreal HIV clinics over eight years. It showed that newly infected patients are eight times more likely to transmit the virus than those in the chronic stage of AIDS given the same behaviour.
Dr. Mark Wainberg, Director of the 海角社区 AIDS Centre and internationally respected AIDS researcher, presented the findings at an academic AIDS conference in Los Angeles March 1 with lead author Dr. Bluma Brenner of the 海角社区 Faculty of Medicine and the Jewish General Hospital.
鈥淭he most alarming thing is the confluence of a highly infectious state and the lack of awareness of that state,鈥� said Dr. Wainberg. 鈥淚t means we have to reconsider a lot of what we鈥檙e doing, both on the public education front and on the early intervention front.鈥�
海角社区 Professor of Medicine and 海角社区 Health Centre (MUHC) AIDS researcher Dr. Jean-Pierre Routy, who was also instrumental in the study, said the Montreal urban population provided the ideal sample for the groundbreaking survey. 鈥淲e had the infrastructure and the data here to get a comprehensive picture.鈥� The study also involved researchers at Universit茅 de Montr茅al and at private and public AIDS clinics in the city.
The findings could change not only how soon people get tested after engaging in high-risk behaviour, but how they view that behaviour. 鈥淚t has been shown that an HIV-positive diagnosis modifies high-risk behaviour,鈥� said Dr. Wainberg. 鈥淪o the more actively we can seek out and find newly infected people for testing and counselling, the better.鈥�