International Notes Update: Acquired Immunodeficiency
Syndrome -- Europe
Ten countries provide the World Health Organization (WHO)
Collaborating Centre on Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS),
Paris, France, with regular data, making follow-up and study of the
AIDS situation possible in Europe (1); these countries are:
Denmark,
France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Italy, the
Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
A total of 421 AIDS cases were diagnosed in these 10 countries
(although onset of illness may have occurred elsewhere) up to July
15,
1984 (Table 1). In October 1983, the same countries reported 215
cases at the first meeting on AIDS, organized by the WHO Regional
Office for Europe in Aarhus, Denmark (2). AIDS cases have
increased
nearly 100% in 8 months. Estimates of the rate of AIDS cases per
million population vary considerably from one country to another.
However, uneven geographic case distribution was found within the
individual countries and also in other parts of the world.
Seven percent of the cases reported in these 10 countries
occurred
among women. Forty-nine percent of all patients were in the 30- to
39-year age group. Two cases occurring in children under 1 year of
age were reported in France, the first in a Zairian child whose
mother
also had AIDS, and the second, in a Haitian child whose parents
both
had the disease.
Of the total patients recorded, 349 (83%) came from the 10
countries mentioned above (Table 2). Three other groups accounted
for
a considerable percentage: (1) the group of patients from
countries
in the Caribbean region, with 18 cases (4.3% of the total),
including
17 Haitian patients (reported in France) and one patient from
Dominica
(reported in the United Kingdom). Except for three Haitians, these
patients were living in Europe before the appearance of the first
signs of the disease; (2) the group of patients from Africa
included
39 cases (9.3% of the total). These patients came from Zaire (18),
Congo (nine), Gabon (three), Mali (two), Zambia (two), Cameroon
(one),
Cape Verde (one), Ghana (one), Togo (one), and Uganda (one). The
cases were diagnosed and reported in France (27 cases), Switzerland
(six), the United Kingdom (two), the Federal Republic of Germany
(two), Greece (one), and Italy (one). Thirty-two of these patients
were living in Europe before the appearance of the initial
symptoms;
(3) the third group ("other nationalities") included 15 patients
(3.6%
of the total), consisting mainly of patients coming from the
Americas: United States (seven), Argentina (one), Canada (one),
Nicaragua (one), and Peru (one). The four other patients came from
the following countries: Albania (one), Pakistan (one), Portugal
(one), and Yugoslavia (one). Seven of them (four United States
citizens, one Argentine, one Canadian, and one Pakistani) were not
living in Europe when the first symptoms appeared.
Of the patients from the 10 European countries, 87.4% were male
homosexuals, 3.4%, hemophilia patients, and 1.4%, drug abusers,
while
none of the known risk factors could be found for 6.9% of patients
of
both sexes. Among the latter, women comprised slightly more than
2%
of the total. The 12 hemophilia patients were reported in the
Federal
Republic of Germany (five cases), Spain (three), France (two), and
the
United Kingdom (two). The five drug-abuse patients were reported
in
Spain (three cases) and the Federal Republic of Germany (two). The
two patients for whom the only risk factor identified was blood
transfusion were reported in France. The first had received
transfusions in Haiti and Martinique at an interval of a few days;
the
second had received a transfusion in Paris. Both were given
transfusions following traffic accidents.
In almost all patients from the Caribbean and Africa observed
in
Europe, none of the known AIDS risk factors were found. One
Haitian
patient (out of 17) and one African patient (out of 39) said they
were
homosexuals.
Women without known risk factors comprised 22% of the Caribbean
cases and 33% of the African cases. Among patients of other
nationalities, 13 were homosexuals; two were also drug abusers.
The
two patients (one Pakistani and one Portuguese) for whom no risk
factor was found had lived in Equatorial Africa during the 5 years
preceding diagnosis of the disease.
Reported in WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record 1984;59:305-7.
References
World Health Organization. (No. 32, get title) Wkly Epidem Rec
1984;59:249-50.
World Health Organization. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
(AIDS) update. Wkly Epidem Rec 1983;58:351.
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