Some 80,000 new HIV infections are expected in Europe over the next three years, amid a sharp rise in sexually-transmitted diseases.
The grim forecast, announced on Wednesday (3 June) by the executive director of the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), points to a resurgence of HIV, TB, viral hepatitis, and other sexual transmitted infections.
Taken together, the diseases kill 59,000 people every year throughout the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
“We will see 80,000 new HIV infections, over 9,000 deaths due to tuberculosis in the upcoming three years in Europe,” said Dr Pamela Rendi-Wagner, who oversees the agency.
Speaking to MEPs in the European Parliament’s health committee, Rendi-Wagner said antimicrobial resistance will only add to the problem.
She described antimicrobial resistance as one of the most serious public health threats in Europe that is especially dangerous for aging populations with chronic diseases.
More than 70 percent of the four million annual hospital infections are from antimicrobial resistance, she added.
The ECDC says that between 2015 and 2024, syphilis notification rates more than doubled, reaching the highest levels observed during the past decade.
Syphilis cases in newborns also increased by almost 80 percent between 2023 and 2024.
Nikolaj Nielsen