World AIDS Day takes place on 1 December each year. People worldwide unite and show international solidarity in the face of the disease. The inequality that contributes to the continuation of the AIDS pandemic is not an inevitable fact of life, and Researchers suppose that we can fight it.
In the framework of World AIDS Day, we interviewed Larisa V. PUZIREVA, MD, PhD, Prof. Assoc. of the Phthisiology, Pulmonology and Infectious Diseases Department.
Talking about the prevention of AIDS, Larisa V. PUZIREVA mentioned that in the Omsk Region, HIV/AIDS is transmitted through sexual contact in 73% of cases. It affects people of any age and any social status, that is why it is important to use barrier contraception.
Not only prevention, but the treatment of HIV is possible. Patients on ongoing treatment for HIV infection can have healthy children and be safe for their partners. Every year the number of drugs for the treatment of HIV increases and their quality improves.
OSMU also contributes to the prevention and treatment of HIV.
1. Seminars, conferences, and lectures on the HIV infection, the tactics of timely and qualified medical help for such patients are held annually for the doctors of the Omsk Region.
2. OSMU hosted the development and got the patent of the model for assessing the prognosis of the HIV outcome in the case of the development of pneumocystis and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia.
3. Staff of the Phthisiology, Pulmonology and Infectious Diseases Department every day consult patients with HIV infection for the timely detection of lung diseases and further differential diagnosis.
4. Close and successive cooperation of the Phthisiology, Pulmonology and Infectious Diseases Department with the Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS and Infectious Diseases allows to think up the correct vector of coordinated actions, improve the population literacy, cover more patients with HIV infection with examination and treatment.
As of January 1, 2022, 23,043 cases of HIV infection were registered in the Omsk Region, which made the Omsk Region seventh among ten administrative territories of the Siberian Federal District in terms of prevalence and incidence of HIV infection. In 2021, 73% of people got HIV through sexual contact, 26.2% - through drug injections. HIV infection is more likely to affect the young working-age population aged 20 to 49 years with the prevalence of patients aged 30-39 years. In 2021, the percentage of men was 53.2% (623 people), women - 46.8% (447 people). The lack of timely examination and treatment of HIV infection in 2021 led to a fatal outcome in 372 patients (in 2019 - 453 people, in 2020 - 366 people). 40.3% died from tuberculosis, 29.4% from a bacterial infection, 5.9% from oncological diseases, and 17.8% from the new COVID-19 infection.