NEWS

HIV infections on the rise in Cyprus

HIV infections on the rise in Cyprus

With 66 new HIV infections reported last year between January and October, Cyprus health authorities say there has been a rise of cases in the past two years.

Moreover, authorities point to 80 HIV infections in 2015 compared to 41 in 2010.

Data published by the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) say that the highest incidence was seen in gay men between the ages of 20 and 39. Moreover, 54 cases were reported in 2011, 58 in 2012, 54 in 2013, and 55 in 2014.

Tellingly, in 1986, only 11 infections were reported in Cyprus, mostly concerning foreign nationals, while most of the 80 cases reported in 2015 were Cypriots. The majority of the 983 cases – 548 or 55.7 percent – reported between 1986 and 2015, were Cypriots.

Most of the infections, 93.4 percent, were contracted through sexual contact – 51.6 percent heterosexual and 41.8 percent homosexual.

Most of the women (93.2 percent) that contracted the virus did so mostly through heterosexual intercourse.
 

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