German Expert Fears Increase in New AIDS Cases

Cases of syphilis and other STDs in larger German cities are rising, and could be an early warning of increased AIDS cases to come, according to Dr. Osamah Hamouda, head of HIV/AIDS at the Berlin-based Robert-Koch-Institut, Germany's version of the US CDC. In an interview with the newspaper Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung, Hamouda said that the growing number of syphilis cases in Germany indicated people's increased willingness to participate in "unprotected sexual contact."

Hamouda is especially concerned about young people who did not experience the first "AIDS shock" of the mid-1980s and cannot fully comprehend the need to use condoms. He said that he is concerned about the number of new AIDS cases in Germany as well as in the United States and European nations. Institute spokesperson Susanne Glasmacher told Reuters that there were about 2,000 new HIV cases in Germany and around 600 HIV/AIDS-related deaths in 2001. Between 38,000 and 40,000 Germans have HIV infections. Syphilis cases in Germany in the first half of 2002 totaled 1,116, up from 756 in the first half of 2001.

According to Hamouda, medical advances in dealing with AIDS since the 1980s have created false hopes. The advances, he maintains, can slow the advancement of infection and ease symptoms, but HIV infection remains a life-threatening disease with no cure. He said the culture is also witnessing the diminishing of the massive efforts to fight AIDS that characterized the 1990s. "We must not allow these efforts to weaken. We must not allow the full coverage of AIDS programs to develop more and more and bigger and bigger holes."

Glasmacher said that in the last 3 to 5 years, spending for AIDS programs had remained at constant levels. "The efforts in this area [AIDS] need to be strengthened," she said.

Back to other CDC news for September 10, 2002

Previous Updates