Recife - The World Bank's forecast in the decade of the '80's about the growth in the number of Aids cases in Brazil did not prove correct. It was predicted that 1.2 million people would be HIV carriers in 2000. The actual figure, according to data from the Ministry of Health, was 600 thousand cases, half the expected total. This information was presented by the President of the Brazilian Society for the Study of Infectious Diseases, João Mendonça, during an address to the 1st Brazilian Aids Congress, which ended yesterday (1) in the Pernambuco Convention Center, in Olinda, Northeastern Brazil.

The physician credited control of the epidemic to the success of the National Program to Combat Aids, implemented in Brazil by the Ministry of Health. According to Mendonça, the effort has resulted in the reduction of opportunistic infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. Nevertheless, he stressed that it is still necessary to overcome the obstacles that impede the evolution of treatment. He cited the side effects of medications, especially bodily changes, beginning with the redistribution of fat, called "lipodystrophy," and the increase in cholesterol and triglycerides, which render patients vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Márcia Wonghon
Translator: David Silberstein
09/02/2004