More than 10,000 people in France are living with AIDS without knowing it, according to Public Health France. In 2023, an estimated 3,650 people will be infected with HIV. This number has been stable since 2021, after a long period of decline.
In the Pyrénées-Orientales, the Infectious and Tropical Diseases department (SMIT) of the Perpignan Hospital Center is monitoring 1,163 people for their HIV infection. Amélie Justine, nurse at the Free Information, Screening and Diagnostic Center (CeGIDD) at SMIT: “We die less from it and people who suffer from it are less discriminated against than at a certain time. The treatments allow you to live almost normally. » Indeed in 2024, a person carrying HIV who takes their treatment correctly can have unprotected sex.
5,500 people would have discovered their HIV status in 2023 in France.
“The treatment weakens the viral load so much that it is practically undetectable and therefore cannot be transmitted. » For couples who wish, it is therefore possible to have children naturally despite the illness. Advances which should not make us forget that HIV is nevertheless still present. “Prevention messages are important. »
The best-known protection remains the condom, classic or internal, which protects against all sexually transmitted diseases. For prevention, or in the event of risky behavior, Prep (acronym for pre-exposure prophylaxis) is aimed at people who do not have HIV. It consists of taking medication to avoid contamination. There is also post-exposure treatment (PET), also known as emergency treatment, which must be taken no later than 48 hours after a risk of transmission, then every day for a month. Both are free devices. Please note, Prep, like TPE, does not protect against other sexually transmitted infections.
specifies Amélie Justine, nurse du CeGIDD SMIT CH Perpignan.
The CeGGID of the Perpignan Hospital Center and its branches, located in downtown Perpignan and Narbonne, received 6,214 people in 2023. “We receive very different audiences. The team is multidisciplinary, HIV screening is often the gateway that allows us to address sexuality as a whole. So we refer certain people to midwives for contraception, for example. Psychologists, social workers or sexologists are also present,” indicates the nurse.
Nationally, the average age of contracting the virus is 36 years. 25% of infected people discover that they are carriers late, following health complications.
“There is no cure for HIV, we can live normally thanks to treatment that we will have to take daily throughout our lives,” explains Amélie Justine, nurse at CeGIDD SMIT CH Perpignan.
Good to know
HIV testing can be done in a CeGIDD or a medical biology laboratory, without a prescription and free of charge.
Since January 1, 2023, pharmacies have been providing condoms to young people under 26, without a prescription and free of charge.
CeGGID provides comprehensive care for sexual health.
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is an infection that is transmitted from one person to another. A person infected with HIV is said to be seropositive.
AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a disease that develops due to HIV. Without treatment, HIV destroys all of the body’s defenses.
HIV is transmitted during sex without condoms, when sharing or reusing certain drug paraphernalia, or during pregnancy or breastfeeding if the mother is HIV positive.
Anal walls are more permeable than vaginal walls, so unprotected anal intercourse represents a higher risk of contamination.
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