Vol. 508 No. 2
59 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of cases of AIDS reported in the first six months of 1999; his Department's views on the reason for the significant increase over the previous six month period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18253/99]
The number of new AIDS cases reported to my Department from January 1999 to 31 July 1999 was 32. In the six months preceding this, from June 1998 to December 1998, the number of cases of AIDS reported was three. However, it should be noted that the figure for AIDS cases reported to the Department from January 1998 to June 1998 was 38, with a full year total of 41. This shows that there has not been a significant increase in the overall reported incidence of AIDS. Statistics on AIDS and HIV are produced bi-annually by my Department with the statistics on AIDS cases reflecting the number of cases reported in a given period and not when the onset of AIDS occurred.
The incidence of AIDS has declined in all EU countries. This is due, at least partly, to the impact of highly active anti-retroviral treatments which were introduced in 1996. These treatments slow down the progression of the disease, hence people infected with HIV do not develop AIDS as quickly as before. However, in some cases patients do not respond to the new treatment regimes and therefore we can expect that a number of new cases of AIDS are likely to occur each year.
Of course, this means that we must not become complacent about this condition and my Department will continue to give priority to HIV and AIDS. For this reason the national AIDS strategy committee is undertaking a review of all aspects of HIV-AIDS, with the aim of publishing an updated strategy in December 1999.
