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ROME. – One in seven people with HIV in Europe is un- aware of their infection, the EU and World Health Organisation reported yesterday as 2015 marked another record year for new HIV cases in the region.“HIV/Aids continues to be a serious problem in Europe . . . The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s (ECDC) estimate that one in seven people living with HIV are unaware of their status is particularly worrying,” EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said in the report released ahead of World AIDS Day tomorrow.

“People who do not know they are infected cannot benefit from life-saving treatment, and can continue to transmit the virus to others,” he noted.

The ECDC figure is based on data from the 28 EU nations plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Almost half of cases in those countries – 47 percent – are diagnosed at a late stage of infection, the ECDC said, estimating that on average it takes almost four years before an HIV infection is diagnosed and reported.

Sex between men remains the main reported HIV transmission mode in those 31 countries, accounting for 42 percent of diagnoses. – AFP.