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Two new HIV positive patients are registered this year in Veliko Tarnovo Region

The number of registered HIV positive people in Bulgaria has grown up to 1438 as of November 13th, 2011. On November 30th the Ministry of health issued annual data on the prevalence of HIV infection in Bulgaria.
According to the National Programme for Prevention and Control of HIV / AIDS of the Ministry of Health the number of newly registered HIV positive since the beginning of 2011 is 166 persons – 135 of them are men and 31 are women, i.e. number of newly registered men is almost 4 times greater than the number of newly diagnosed  women.
Data analysis by age shows that infected people in very broad age range - between 17 and 80 years. For comparison, the lower age limit in 2010 was critically reduced to 15 years. This year, for the first time trends show reduction of the number of newly infected young people age up to 29 years. Data shows that 38% (or 63 persons) of newly registered HIV positive this year are young people aged 17-29 years. For comparison, in 2010 young people in this age group were 55% of newly registered HIV positive persons. In 2011, an increase by 14% of the newly registered HIV-positive persons in the age group 30-49 years is evident in the statistic.
During the reporting period 6 pregnant women were registered as carriers of the virus and 2 HIV-positive children were born by HIV-positive mothers. It is vital for all pregnant women to be tested for HIV in the first and third trimester of pregnancy to determine their status. Ministry of Health provides free antiretroviral prophylaxis to prevent transmission of virus from HIV-positive mother to her child. Such timely and quality prophylaxis helps new born child to remain HIV negative in over 98% of the cases.
According to the path of transmission of infection this year again we identify two particularly vulnerable groups - approximately 34% (56 persons) of newly registered in 2011 were IDUs and 26% (43 persons) are men who have sex with men. While in the group of people who use injection drugs there are no significant change, in the gay community, it tends to increase with more than 6%.
Approximately 60% of the new HIV cases were detected at the centers for anonymous and free counseling and testing for HIV / AIDS (KABKIS) and NGO sub-recipients of funds from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GF). The data shows that by the end of October 2011 a total of 59,837 persons have undergone HIV test at KABKIS or NGOs - sub-recipients of funds from the GF. Over 60% of them are young people aged up to 29 years. During their visit at KABKIS over 70% reported that they had risky sexual behavior.
Most of HIVpositive persons registered in 2011 are in Sofia - 72 persons and the Plovdiv region - 27 persons; Varna - 12 persons and Pazardzhik - 11 persons.

Ministry of Health provides advanced treatment for patients with HIV / AIDS in Bulgaria. Modern antiretroviral therapy (ART) is available to everyone who needs treatment and is supposedly available at 5 HIV screening and treatment sectors in the country, which are situated at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Pleven and Stara Zagora. For some reason the Pleven center is refusing to serve, treat and screen HIV positive patients and the staff turns them away to other centers.
As of October 31st, 2011 the number of people living with HIV / AIDS, who are under screening and receive medical services is 705. 432 persons of them receive antiretroviral therapy. Data show that 70% of newly registered HIV positive patients in the past 5 years do register at the HIV centers for treatment in the first 3 months after they are being diagnosed.

ART is provided by the Ministry of Health, and in 2011 it has delivered a total of 21 types of medications worth of 7.9 million BGN. To ensure continuity of treatment with funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria the Ministry of health has established a reserve of drugs worth about 1 million BGN. As a major achievement of the implementation of ART we can point the extension of life of patients on treatment. Data show that nearly 70% of the people who started therapy 10 years ago still continue their treatment. Thanks to ART we now observe improved immune status of patients which is a prerequisite for improving the quality of life of people living with HIV and secondary prevention of transmission of the virus.

In the city of Veliko Tarnovo the center for anonymous and free counseling and testing for HIV / AIDS (KABKIS) has been working for 8 years and since the beginning of 2011 until November 29th 1597 persons have tested for HIV. 932 were males and 665 females. The age picture shows that the people were from 15 to 82 years old. During the same period 2 HIV positive persons were registered in the Veliko Tarnovo district and 24 received syphilis as a diagnose. 

Data on the prevalence of HIV infection worldwide is still alarming. According to recent calculations of the UNAIDS, at the end of 2010 33.3 million people living with HIV and between 25-33 million people died from diseases associated with HIV infection.
Every day immunodeficiency virus is infecting about 7,100 people. The fastest growing epidemic is in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North Africa. Globally, 26% of newly infected persons are girls aged 15-24 years - the AIDS virus is the main cause of death for many young women in reproductive age.

250 % is the increase of the newly diagnosed with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region (EECA).