Leishmania/HIV co-infection in south-western Europe 1990–1998

Overview

According to new estimates from UNAIDS and WHO, 32.4 million adults and 1.2 million children were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 1999, 95% of them living in the developing world. However, HIV is still a challenge in industrialized countries. Globally, over the course of the year 1999, some 5.6 million people became infected with HIV and 2.6 million died despite the antiretroviral therapy available in the richer countries. The total number of deaths since the beginning of the epidemic is estimated at 16.3 million worldwide.

In western Europe, during 1999, 30 000 adults and children were newly infected with HIV and a total of 520 000 adults and children were living with HIV/AIDS, or 1 in every 400 adults aged 15-49 years (0.25%). The main modes of transmission for adults living with HIV/AIDS were sexual transmission among men who have sex with men and through injecting drug use.