Of people newly diagnosed with HIV infection, 90.5% (448 of 495) were linked to an HIV unit, 85% of whom were linked
within 4 weeks (≤ 28 days). Only 9.5% of persons (47 of 495) did not Belnacasan have access to care directly through BCN Checkpoint: 3.4% (17 of 495) knew somebody in a hospital and decided to seek care themselves or said that they would go with another PLWHIV to their next doctor’s visit (self-linked to care); 3.7% (18 of 495) were temporarily living in Barcelona and decided to seek care in their home country, of whom 78% originated from within the EU; and only 2.4% (12 persons) were lost after several attempts to contact them. An initiative such as BCN Checkpoint, focusing on a key population at risk, can consume fewer
resources (in terms of time and funding) than other approaches, as a high number of cases, with a high prevalence (here 5.4%), can be detected with a minimum number of HIV tests. National HIV Surveillance data indicate that BCN Checkpoint was responsible for the detection of an increasing proportion of reported cases over the years, with, on average, over a third of HIV diagnoses in the region attributable to BCN Checkpoint. From 2007 to 2012, the number of persons tested yearly increased 4-fold, and the number of people returning to repeat the test at the centre increased 23-fold, suggesting that BCN Checkpoint was very well accepted by the MSM community. Such initiatives can selleck kinase inhibitor act as a stimulus encouraging more people to be tested, and hence resulting in the detection of more new infections. Moreover, the intervention model of BCN Checkpoint has been implemented in other European Miconazole countries, such as Portugal
(CheckpointLX) and Greece (ATH Checkpoint). BCN Checkpoint has also demonstrated efficiency in detecting a high rate of new HIV infections, in individuals who had had a previous negative test result within the last 18 months, which benefits not only the newly diagnosed individual but also, through the prevention of more new infections, the community. The extremely high rate of linkage of cases to care achieved by BCN Checkpoint makes an important contribution to increasing the number of PLWHIV who attain an undetectable viral load, which has been shown to be a vital step in the HIV treatment cascade. The authors declare that there are no potential conflicts of interest. “
“A questionnaire-based survey on the mortality of Dutch travelers abroad revealed that travel outside of Europe carried an increased mortality risk predominantly caused by fatal cardiovascular events and traffic accidents rather than fatal infections. Discussion of these items should receive a prominent place in our travel health consultation. Up to 50% of the people who travel from the industrialized world to developing countries may experience some kind of ailment.