Epidemiological aspects of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in south-east Romania

Introduction

The characteristic of HIV/AIDS Romanian epidemic is the high proportion of youth infected in 1988-1990, during their first year of life, when a nosocomial epidemiological accident took place. In Galati (South-East Romania) they were recorded 535 people with HIV/AIDS during 1990-2003 and 79.5% belonged to the pediatric nosocomial cohort. The mortality was 56.8% and half of the deaths were recorded during the first year after diagnosis. The aim of the study is to identify the changes in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the last 10 years.

Materials and methods

This retrospective study was based on epidemiological reports of the newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS patients. The descriptive statistics and comparative Kaplan-Meier graphs by transmission way were analyzed using XL-Stat Software.

Results

During 2004-2013, 182 new patients have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Galati. Most patients are young people with the same age as the pediatric cohort of HIV/ AIDS, but predominance of heterosexual transmission marks the change of the epidemic pattern. (table 1). Late presentation is less associated with sexual than other transmission ways (p=0.026), but is most likely expected in males (p=0,003), with symptomatic context (p<0,001). Death rate is 15%. Retention in care was achieved in 95% of cases. Tuberculosis is still the leading indicator of AIDS (21.4%). Tuberculosis (12/26) and cancer disease (6/26) are the main causes of death.

Table 1 Characteristics of new HIV/AIDS diagnosed patients in Galati

Conclusions

The life expectancy of HIV/AIDS patients has obviously improved in the last decade, but the yearly number of new cases is constant, with a high rate of late presenters. The strategy of future screening programs should consider the trends of HIV/AIDS epidemic in our region.