A quarter of Italy's HIV cases unrecognized, report

A quarter of all HIV-positive Italians do not know they are infected, a report by the Italian health service's AIDS Operational Centre (COA) warned on Wednesday.
The annual study also said that more than half of those newly diagnosed with HIV ignore the virus, particularly if they acquired it through sexual activity.
Over 1,200 people in Italy were diagnosed with HIV last year, compared to 1,679 in 2007, said the report.
There are currently around 151,000 individuals with HIV-AIDS in Italy overall, equal to around 2.5 every 1,000 inhabitants.
The report also warned that more people than ever were not diagnosed with HIV until they were close to developing AIDS.
''The number of people discovering they are infected at a very late stage, and thereby unknowingly spreading the infection, has tripled since 1996,'' it said.
It also noted that over half of all women with HIV-AIDS had contracted the virus during heterosexual relations with men they knew to be infected, probably underestimating the damage to their health.
A growing disregard for the dangers of HIV-AIDS - partly attributable to a plummeting death rate in Italy, down from 94% in 1985 to 9% in 2008 - was a particular concern to COA.
Commenting on the report, Junior Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio said there was ''a growing perception that the risk posed by AIDS is decreasing''.
''The fact the virus is no longer as lethal as it used to be, partly thanks to antiretroviral drugs, has led to people lowering their guard,'' he said. ''This means there is a real need for more public awareness campaigns''.
He said the government had allocated 500,000 euros so far but he promised to push for more money and said he would also seek private funding.
Meanwhile, two new public awareness initiatives geared towards young people are set to be launched in coming weeks by the Italian Network for HIV-Positive People (NPS).
The first initiative is a TV advert featuring a cast of well-known Italian celebrities, which will focus on events during a wild night out clubbing.
The second initiative is a competition for those between the ages of 16 and 26 for the best one-minute TV advert or 40-second radio commercial. The entries can be uploaded directly to an online site, where users will be able to vote for their favourites.
''Strengthening primary prevention through communications campaigns and promoting safe sexual behaviour is our only real weapon against AIDS, and it is therefore crucial we enlist young people as our allies as early as possible,'' said NPS President Rosaria Iardino.