US embassy cable - 05MADRID3144

UNCLAS MADRID 003144 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE, S/GAC, AND OES/IHA; DEPARTMENT ALSO 
PASS TO ESTH COLLECTIVE; HHS FOR OS/OGHA (TERRY GAY); CDC 
FOR GLOBAL AIDS PROGRAM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO, SOCI, KHIV, SP 
SUBJECT: SPAIN:  NEW HIV/AIDS INFECTION RATES CONTINUED TO 
DECLINE IN 2004 
 
REF: A. 04 MADRID 4290 
 
     B. 04 MADRID 3835 
 
1.  Health Ministry 2004 statistics on HIV/AIDS in Spain, 
released August 16, indicate that new AIDS diagnoses declined 
6.6 percent from 2003 to 2004 (from 2,218 new infections in 
2003 to 2,071 in 2004).  A sampling of some interesting 
statistics includes: 
 
--  37.2 percent of those newly diagnosed were unaware that 
they were HIV positive; 
 
--  57.7 percent of this 37.2 percent were infected via 
unprotected sexual relations (with a roughly even split 
between those infected via unprotected homosexual and 
heterosexual sex); 
 
--  76.7 percent of all those who were newly diagnosed in 
2004 were men; 
 
--  The average age of those newly diagnosed was 40.3 years 
(the average age has increased steadily since 1985, when the 
figure was 28 years); 
 
--  45.7 percent of overall new infections were attributed to 
sexual transmission; 
 
--  Despite the overall decline in new infections, 
transmissions due to sexual relations between homosexual men 
increased 1.8 percent from 2003 to 2004; 
 
--  unprotected heterosexual relations was the cause of 52 
percent of the new infections among females; 
 
--  overall transmissions linked to heterosexual sex declined 
1.9 percent from 2003 to 2004 (from 617 to 605 cases); 
 
--  unprotected heterosexual sex was thus responsible for 
29.2 percent of new infections in 2004; 
 
--  New infections among intravenous drug users declined 12 
percent from 2003 to 2004 (from 1,089 cases to 958); 
 
--  four cases each were attributed in 2004 to 
mother-to-child transmission and blood transfusions; 
 
--  14.5 percent of those newly infected are foreign 
nationals, with 64.4 percent of these cases coming from 
developing country nationals (mostly Africans and Latin 
Americans); 
 
--  the 2004 figures brings Spain to 71,039 total AIDS cases 
since the epidemic broke out in 1981; 
 
--  this makes Spain the second most affected state in 
Western Europe after Portugal; 
 
--  however, new infection rates have declined by 69 percent 
since 1996 (when anti-retroviral treatment became available). 
 
2.  COMMENT:  Our Reftel analysis of HIV/AIDS in Spain 
remains unchanged.  Spain's HIV/AIDS program is well-funded, 
well-managed and has proven effective in containing the 
spread of the HIV/AIDS in Spain. 
AGUIRRE