Human immunodeficiency virus in injecting drug users in Europe following a reported increase of cases in Greece and Romania, 2011

A Pharris; L Wiessing; O Sfetcu; D Hedrich; A Botescu; A Fotiou; G K Nikolopoulos; M Malliori; M Salminen; J E Suk; P Griffiths; M J van de Laar

doi:10.2807/ese.16.48.20032-en

Rapid communications Open Access

Like 0

Download

Human immunodeficiency virus in injecting drug users in Europe following a reported increase of cases in Greece and Romania, 2011
A Pharris¹ , L Wiessing² , O Sfetcu¹ , D Hedrich² , A Botescu³ , A Fotiou⁴ , G K Nikolopoulos⁵ , M Malliori⁶ , M Salminen¹ , J E Suk¹ , P Griffiths² , M J van de Laar ¹
View Affiliations Hide Affiliations

Affiliations: ¹ European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden ² European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Lisbon, Portugal ³ National Observatory on Drugs, National Anti-Drug Agency, Bucharest, Romania ⁴ National Focal Point of the EMCDDA, University Mental Health Research Institute, Athens, Greece ⁵ Hellenic Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Athens, Greece ⁶ Organisation Against Drugs (OKANA), Athens, Greece

Correspondence:
A Pharris
anastasia.pharris ecdc.europa.eu
View Citation Hide Citation

Citation style for this article: Pharris A, Wiessing L, Sfetcu O, Hedrich D, Botescu A, Fotiou A, Nikolopoulos G K, Malliori M, Salminen M, Suk J E, Griffiths P, van de Laar M J. Human immunodeficiency virus in injecting drug users in Europe following a reported increase of cases in Greece and Romania, 2011. Euro Surveill. 2011;16(48):pii=20032. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.16.48.20032-en Received: 29 Nov 2011

Abstract

Greece and Romania reported an increased number of HIV cases among injecting drug users (IDUs) during 2011. Most European countries reported no changes in the rate of newly diagnosed cases of HIV or HIV prevalence in IDUs; however, six countries did report increases and several additional countries reported increases in injecting risk indicators or low coverage of prevention services. These indicate a potential risk for increased HIV transmission and future outbreaks unless adequate prevention is implemented.