Virology & Mycology
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-0517
+44 1223 790975
ISSN: 2161-0517
+44 1223 790975
Marina N Nosik, I Rymanova, S Sevostyanihin and A Sobkin
I I Mechnikov Research Institute of Vaccines and Sera, Russia
G A Zaharyan Moscow Tuberculosis Clinic, Russia
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Virol Mycol
The growing number of people aged 50 years and older, who are living with HIV becomes a significant public health problem. Worldwide an estimated 3.6 million people aged â�?¥50 years are HIV-infected. However still few data are available regarding newly diagnosed HIV and contexts of HIV-infection among older adults. The goal of the study was to obtain data regarding the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of people aged 50 and over, who were newly diagnosed with HIV. Data were collected over the period of 2015-2016 years from a large medical center, Department for treatment of TB/HIV patients. Epidemiological and clinical data were collected and analyzed as part of a descriptive study. Out of 570 HIV positive patients who attended the clinic over 2015-2016 years 410 patients were newly diagnosed (ND) with HIV. The most prevalent age group among ND was 30-39 years (88.9%). The ratio of persons aged â�?¥50 among ND was 11.2% (n=46); 54.3% were males. Out of 46 newly diagnosed aged people 43.5% (n=20) individuals were of age â�?¥56 years. Out of aged ND 34.8% (n=16) patients had CD4 cell count below 350 cells/mm�?³ and 43.5% (n=20) had CD4 cell count below 200 cells/mm�?³. Median CD4 cell count in group 23-49 years was 329 cells/mm�?³ (57-929 cells/mm�?³). There were differences in HIV risk factors in the older compared to younger age groups: Injection drug use (IDUs) was the risk factor identified for 46.2% of the age group 23-49 years versus 17.1% in older group; heterosexual route of HIV transmission was 51.9% in group of 23-49 years and 82.9% of those age â�?¥50 and men who have sex with men accounted for 1.9% of the younger group and none in the older. Thus a very high proportion of individuals aged â�?¥50 are diagnosed with HIV at an advanced stage of disease. Also a rather alarming finding is that the predominant mode of HIV transmission in older people is heterosexual contacts (82.9%) comparing with younger people who acquired HIV both through needle-sharing and heterosexual contacts. It is essential for healthcare providers to implement special education programs targeting older population, including implementation of HIV screening guidelines in primary care settings.
Marina N Nosik is currently pursuing research in AIDS since 1985. She has worked during the outbreaks of HIV-infection in different regions of former Soviet Union. She is the Head of Laboratory of Biology of Lentiviruses, I.I. Mechnikov Institute for Vaccines and Sera, Moscow, Russia. She has two Government Awards for the work in the field of biology and health protection. She has seven issued patents, over 100 deposits of HIV-strains in the State Collections of Viruses, one monograph and 64 publications in the peer-reviewed journals.
Email:mnossik@yandex.ru