"Unlike in 1988, when December 1 was chosen, today humanity, medical science has medicine that can cure AIDS," said in the press hall of "Armenpress" news agency on December 1, the global fight against AIDS. Spartak Petrosyan, acting director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases of the RA Ministry of Health, said at the press conference held ahead of the day.
According to him, currently medicine can bring a person infected with AIDS to a full life, so that he does not spread the infection any more, and can even have a healthy child. Petrosyan noted that there is a cure for this disease, one just needs to be diagnosed, treated and follow the doctors' advice, not to spread the infection and prevent the epidemic.
The speaker said that in the case of HIV, the latent period of the disease can last more than 10 years, and in case of early treatment, the disease can be managed and treated much more easily, and for this purpose, awareness work and researches are carried out among the people of the risk group.
"Thanks to awareness, the spread of HIV in the risk group has significantly decreased in recent years, and the spread of the disease has started earlier among people who were not previously considered a risk group," Spartak Petrosyan said and urged the mass media to help in awareness activities about the disease.
Anna Mergelyan, head of the monitoring and evaluation department of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, said that the first case of infection in Armenia was found in 1988, after which 6,076 cases of HIV infection were recorded until October 31, 2024, of which 438 were among foreign citizens. According to Nar, 70% of the patients are male, and 48% of the cases were in the 25-39 age group at the time of the illness.
"The main transmission route of the disease is heterosexual, 76%, drug injection 14%, homosexual 7%, and a small number of mother-to-child transmission and unknown sources.
Mergelyan noted that in 2024, the places of infection caused by injecting drugs and homosexual relations have changed: 12% of cases are the way of homosexual transmission, 6% of cases are the way of spread through the use of drugs.
According to him, more than 500 cases are detected annually in Armenia, 462 in 2024 and the disease is more common in Shirak region. Vardan Arzakanyan, the head of the Epidemiological Control and Consulting Department of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, also said that many detections are also related to many examinations, but the main reason for the spread of the disease is lack of protection during sexual relations.
He also mentioned that half of the patients in Armenia are migrant workers.
