A dramatic drop in the number of new HIV infections in British Columbia shows that a treatment-as-prevention strategy is making a difference, says a leading AIDS investigator who is frustrated that other parts of the country haven’t embraced the concept to the same extent.
“The truth is that there is no reason why we should be seeing a steady decrease in HIV new cases in British Columbia and we should not expect to see the same thing in the rest of the country,” said Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS.
Saskatchewan, in particular, has been struggling with an incremental increase in new cases almost every year since 2004.
In British Columbia, the number of deaths from AIDS since 2005 has steadily declined to 55 in 2010, while the number of people receiving HIV antiretroviral treatment has risen.
New HIV diagnoses fell to a low of 301 in 2010 even as testing for the virus increased, said Montaner as he revealed previously unpublished figures. In 1996, there were more than 700 new diagnoses and throughout the early 2000s, the number of new HIV diagnoses each year was above 400.