No 45/48 - 2023

World AIDS Day 2023

1 December is the 35th World Aids Day. On this day, organisations, associations and individuals across the world will mark World AIDS Day.

This years focus is to let communities lead. One of the Sustainable Development Goals is about eradicating the AIDS epidemic before 2030, and Copenhagen is among the more than 300 cities that have committed to ensuring that 2030 will not bring any new HIV cases in the city under the auspices of the  Fast-Track-Cities initiative. To achieve these goals, testing is essential if there is any risk that you may have become infected with HIV. Without communities and organisations like the AIDS Fondet, including CheckPoint and HIV Denmark, among others, it would be impossible to achieve the goals. Sadly, funding for this type of organisations has recently been given a lower priority. It is important to stress that it is more expensive not to eradicate HIV than to do so.

According to the UNAIDS, these global figures currently apply:

39 million people are living with HIV

1.3 million people became infected with HIV in 2022

630,000 people died due to HIV-related disease in 2022

A total of 85.6 million people have been infected with HIV and 40.4 million people have died due to the disease since the onset of the epidemic.

Denmark follows a positive trend with fewer new HIV diagnoses. Thus, 2022 saw a total of 115 newly notified people with HIV. For more information, please see the 2022 Annual Report on HIV.

However, the UNAIDS figures stress the importance of upholding efforts to eradicate HIV.

In each of these three important cases, you should undergo HIV testing if you belong to a risk group, e.g., men who have sex with men and transsexuals who have sex with men:

1. The sooner you receive the diagnosis, the sooner you will receive effective treatment, thereby avoiding harm to your immune system.
2. If you are HIV positive and well treated, you cannot transmit the condition to other people.
3. If you are an HIV-negative man who has sex with men or a transsexual who has sex with men, you can be offered preventive HIV treatment, PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), which is currently the most effective prevention against HIV infection.

(M. Wessman, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention)

Sustained low number of cases of invasive meningococcal disease per month in 2022

• In 2022, a total of 16 cases of invasive meningococcal disease (MD) were recorded. This is an increase from the ten cases recorded in 2021, but a low number even so.

• No new group W cases were recorded, even though this group was previously dominant.

• As in 2021, group B was the dominant serogroup in 2022, accounting for 63% of all cases.

For a detailed description of the incidence, please see the 2022 annual report on invasive meningococcal disease.

In the years leading up to the pandemic, MD occurrence plateaued at approx. 40 annual cases, even though a steep increase was recorded in 2019. Concurrently with the introduction of restrictions to limit infection with SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, a considerable decline was recorded, which continued into 2021. 2022 recorded a low occurrence, but an increase compared with 2021, Figure 1.

Two patients died due to MD in 2022, and MD sequelae were recorded in seven patients; hearing loss was the most frequently recorded sequelae. Half of the patients had underlying conditions recorded prior to MD.

(C. Munkstrup, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, S. Hoffmann, Department of Bacteria, Parasites and Fungi)
29 November 2023