HIV's spread around Europe mapped

BBC News

Scientists who have mapped HIV's spread across Europe say holidaymakers infected abroad are largely to blame.

Spain is of the most wide-ranging HIV exporters

By analysing samples from 17 European countries, the international team tracked the movement of the virus around the continent.

Their map shows Greece, Portugal, Serbia and Spain are big HIV exporters, with many tourists to and migrants from these countries leaving with the virus.

The UK is an exporter and importer, Retrovirology journal says.

The same is true of Israel, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, while countries like Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Luxembourg are largely importers of HIV, the researchers say.

See the map

In Poland, HIV is contained but is spread among its inhabitants because of injecting drug-users, the research group found.

To construct their map, the researchers looked at the most common type of HIV circulating in Europe, known as HIV-1 subtype B. Read more...