2023-11-30 20:30:31
Friday is World AIDS Day. Every year on December 1st, attention is drawn to the immunodeficiency disease caused by the HIV virus. According to the UN program UNAIDS, there were 1.3 million new infections last year, and around 39 million people are living with HIV. In Austria there are an estimated 8,000 to 8,600 people affected and 473 new diagnoses in the previous year. HIV can now be easily treated so that AIDS does not break out in the body and those treated are not contagious.
However, there is still a lot of discrimination and stigmatization, including in this country. A recent survey commissioned by the pharmaceutical company Gilead showed that 21 percent believe that HIV-positive people are a danger to society. Almost a third (31 percent) of the 1,000 Austrians surveyed incorrectly believe that HIV can be transmitted through a kiss. 13 percent also assume this for insect bites and at least twelve and ten percent are wrongly afraid of infection through sharing dishes or toilets. HIV is primarily a sexually transmitted infection; condoms offer the simplest protection.
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#million #infections #year