Concern over undiagnosed HIV cases

HEALTH minister Androula Agrotou yesterday said she was concerned over the fact that two underage boys who were in Cyprus until the summer carried the HIV virus unbeknown to authorities.
It emerged yesterday that the boys were not in the system because they were diagnosed abroad, Agrotou said.
The person who brought the issue out into the open was Stella Michaelidou, who heads KYFA, a Limassol-based non-governmental organisation that supports HIV/AIDS carriers and works on prevention.
After local media extrapolated an HIV/AIDS problem in schools, Michaelidou clarified that the two boys were non-Cypriots and non-EU citizens who left the island in the summer so they could receive treatment at home.
One boy, 16,  was diagnosed with HIV about three months ago, Agrotou said. “We have taken action with the boy’s school,” she said though she would not go into any details as to how the boy became  infected, citing the need to safeguard his privacy.
Agrotou also confirmed KYFA’s claim that there was another minor boy – now an adult – who was infected about two and half years ago.
Doctors in Cyprus are obliged to inform the health ministry of all new HIV virus diagnoses, Agrotou said.
People are then given treatment options and can have specialised care at Gregorios clinic in Larnaca hospital.
Agrotou said that she was concerned that there may be AIDS carriers who live in Cyprus but have not been diagnosed by authorities and so are not known to the health ministry.
“I’ve spoken with Ms Michaelidou to arrange a meeting so we can work together,” Agrotou said referring to KYFA’s action as a support centre that may bring it in touch with individuals who have not been diagnosed at home.
Cyprus is placed among countries of low prevalence of HIV infection, according to UNAIDS, the United Nations’ programme on HIV/AIDS.
“Due to the long asymptomatic phase of HIV infection, it is expected that some persons who have been infected are not aware of the fact and remain unreported for a certain period of time,” UNAIDS said in its 2012 report on Cyprus.
A total of 735 people were diagnosed with HIV in Cyprus between 1986 and 2011 and 118 have died. This includes about 349 non-Cypriot nationals, 256 of whom do not live on the island.
Some 49 people were diagnosed last year, 54 were diagnosed in 2011 and 41 in 2010.
Five people died from AIDS in 2011 and at least five people died last year, health ministry officials have said.
There are health education programmes in place at schools and other population groups, including sexual education lessons for children in the first year of Lyceum, usually aged 15.
Cyprus has subscribed to the UN goal of zero new infections or AIDS-related deaths by 2015.