Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the epidemiological situation of newly diagnosed HIV infections and AIDS cases and death among AIDS cases in Poland in 2017 in comparison to the changes in preceding years.
Materials and methods: Analysis of the epidemiological situation was based on reports of newly detected HIV cases and AIDS cases and the results of the annual survey of HIV testing conducted among the laboratories throughout the country.
Results: In 2017 there were 1,419 HIV cases newly diagnosed in Poland (diagnosis rate: 3.69 per 100,000), including 51 among non-Polish citizens. The frequency of newly detected HIV infections increased by nearly 8% compared to the previous year and by almost 28% compared to the median in 2011-2015 years. The total number of AIDS cases was 108 (incidence 0.28 per 100,000), and 20 people died from AIDS disease (0.05 per 100,000). New HIV diagnoses were reported mainly among people in age 20 to 39 years (69.5%) and among men (88.5%). Among cases with known transmission route, 69.5% concerned among men who had sexual contact with men (MSM). The percentage of MSM cases, similarly to heterosexual cases decrease in comparison to previous year, relatively by 5.7% and 6.4%. The percentage of AIDS cases diagnosed at the same time with HIV diagnosis increased by 6% percentage points in comparison with 2016 year (from 68% to 74% AIDS cases).
Conclusion: The most HIV cases are diagnosed among MSM, so prophylactic activities are still needed in this key population. It is also need to increase the number of new cases linkage-to-care and to improve the low frequency in HIV testing rate in all population.
Keywords: AIDS; HIV infection; epidemiology; Poland; 2017.