Update on HIV infection in mayotte

Mayotte is a small French island located in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mozambique. It is one of the four Comorian Islands and has a population of about 200,000. The first cases of AIDS were diagnosed in 1989. Since then, the number of serological tests performed annually has stabilized at around 14000. However the number of new cases and treatment reports appears to be increasing slowly. Five of the 15 cases diagnosed in 2005 were at the AIDS stage. In 2006, 74 people were treated at the Mayotte hospital including 5 children. The mean age of the 69 adult patients was 38 years. Contamination was heterosexual for 71 % of the adult cases, homosexual in 13% and transfusional in 3%. Women accounted for 59,5% of adult patients because of antenatal screening. All cases in Mayotte involved HIV type 1 infection. Forty-nine patients are undergoing treatment Viremia is undetectable in 74% as compared to 85% in 2005. This decrease is due to a drop in attendance from 7.2 in 2005 to fold 4.5 in an island environment where HIV is still considered as a shameful disease.