Over 460 new HIV cases detected in Armenia this year

YEREVAN, November 25. /ARKA/. In January-October 2024, some 462 new cases of HIV infection were registered in Armenia, said Anna Mergelyan, head of the Monitoring and Evaluation Department at the National Center for Infectious Diseases of the Armenian Ministry of Health.

‘’On average, around 500-535 new cases of HIV are recorded annually in Armenia. Since 1988, when the first case of HIV was registered, a total of 6,076 HIV cases have been recorded among Armenian citizens, and another 438 among foreign nationals,’’ Mergelyan said at a press conference on Monday.

According to her, the vast majority of infected patients (70%) are men. Nearly half of the cases (48%) at the time of diagnosis involve individuals aged 25 to 39 years, which is the active reproductive age group, sexually active and in their prime.

Regarding the transmission of the disease, Mergelyan stated that the most common routes of infection are heterosexual transmission (76%), drug injection (14%), homosexual transmission (7%), and a very small number of cases involve mother-to-child transmission. In some cases, the sources of infection are unknown. 

At the same time, she reported that these trends in Armenia have been changing in recent years. For example, in 2024, cases of heterosexual transmission reached 81%, homosexual transmission accounted for 12%, and drug-related transmission was 6%.

"Among the regions of the country, the highest number of HIV cases is registered in the Shirak region," Mergelyan noted.

The head of the Epidemiological Control and Consultation Department at the National Center for Infectious Diseases, Vardan Arzakanyan, stated that all processes, including HIV testing, diagnosis, and treatment, are free in Armenia not only for local citizens but also for other residents of the country. -0-