More than a quarter of infections detected at an advanced stage in France

The disease often discovered at an advanced stage. This is the statement drawn up by the Public Health Agency France that reveals, on Tuesday, that more than a quarter
people diagnosed with HIV in France, between 2017 and 2018, were "too late", which delays their care and slows down
the fight against HIV transmission.

Between January 2017 and September 2018, 28% of people discovered that they were carriers of the advanced-stage AIDS virus, that is, when the disease had already occurred or with very low level of CD4 cells, white blood cells targeted by HIV.

People diagnosed had never been tested before

This proportion has not declined since 2013, even as the number of laboratory tests continues to increase, warns Public Health France, ahead of World AIDS Day on Saturday. In 2017, 49% of HIV-positive discoveries involved
people who say they have never been tested before, adds the public body.

"HIV testing needs to be further intensified in the most-at-risk populations, to reduce the proportion of those who are unaware of their HIV status so that they can benefit from antiretroviral therapy," he says.

Nearly 6,000 people diagnosed with HIV in 2016

Treatment, "which prevents the transmission of HIV from HIV-positive people to their partners, is a major challenge to control the epidemic," adds the National Public Health Agency. Public Health France is not yet able to give the total number of people who discovered their HIV status in 2017

In 2016, this number was estimated at around 6,000 people, down 5% from 2013. Biologists and clinicians are required to report the cases of HIV they have diagnosed since April 2016, but the reports received underestimate actual number of cases, are done with a significant delay or include missing data, explains Public Health France.