HIV diagnoses hit 10-year high in Montreal, cases more than double between 2021-22

Men represented 230, or 74 per cent, of the 310 new cases reported in Montreal last year. And 108 cases, or 35 per cent of the total, involved men who have sex with men.

Montreal and its on-island suburbs accounted for 74 per cent of Quebec’s HIV diagnoses in 2022, up from a usual proportion of around 60 per cent.

Alex Filiatrault, CEO of the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, expects HIV diagnoses to continue to increase nationally as testing rates rise after a drop of what he says was as much as 60 per cent in some areas of the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“So as testing levels begin to get back to pre-pandemic levels, we’re going to be seeing an increase in cases that were otherwise missed because routine testing wasn’t happening as often,” he explained in an interview.

He couldn’t say, however, whether newcomers from countries with higher HIV rates than Canada are contributing to increases in diagnoses outside Montreal. The number of new HIV cases differs from region to region, he said, making it difficult to draw conclusions.

But he cautioned against pointing the finger at individual populations. “HIV is very opportunistic,” he said. “Anyone can get HIV. So it’s not just one population that is driving, necessarily, across-Canada increases.”

“We can’t focus on just one population. We have to look at Canada as a whole.”

Filiatrault called for greater nationwide access to HIV prevention tools, such as the medication known as PrEP, which reduces the risk of infection, and greater education on the virus.

The Montreal health authority is encouraging residents to get tested for HIV and all sexually transmitted infections.

“A person living with HIV will not necessarily transmit it,” the agency said in its Dec. 1 news release. “In fact, rapid treatment leads to better health outcomes for all. Treatment reduces the viral load of HIV and makes it undetectable. If the virus is undetectable, it cannot be transmitted.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2023.

Thomas MacDonald, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

HIV diagnoses hit 10-year high in Montreal, cases more than double between 2021-22

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