New HIV infections in Europe hit record

(ANSA) - Rome, November 26- The number of newly diagnosed HIV infections in Europe hit a record level in 2014, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Thursday.
    A total of 142,000 people were newly diagnosed with HIV last year, the highest figure since reporting began in the 1980s.
    "The HIV response in the EU/EEA has not been effective enough to result in a noticeable decline over the last decade", ECDC Acting Director Andrea Ammon said. The data showed that rates of HIV diagnoses have more than doubled in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta and Slovakia, and have increased by more than 50% in Poland.
    Infections that occur as a result of homosexual relations now account for 42% of newly diagnosed cases, up from 30% in 2005.
    Ammon said European authorities needed to boost awareness and evaluate new measures such as pre-exposure prophylaxis, which involves people taking antiretroviral medications before their potential exposure to HIV, in the hope that it lowers their risk of infection.