Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya.
Department of Statistics, Faculty of Science, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya.
Front Public Health. 2022 Mar 31;10:779778. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.779778. eCollection 2022.
The interrelationships between HIV/AIDS and armed conflict are a complex phenomenon, and studies are rarely devoted to this area of research. Libya is the second-largest country in Africa that has been evoked with war since the NATO intervention in 2011. The country has also experienced one of the largest HIV outbreaks associated with the Bulgarian nurse's saga. The effect of the armed conflict on the dynamic spread of HIV is not yet well-known. The objectives of this study were to determine the impact of armed conflict on the epidemiological situation of HIV infection in Libya and to analyze the transmission dynamics of HIV strains during the conflict. We investigated the movement of people with HIV during the Libyan armed conflict, analyzed the HIV subtypes reported from 2011 to 2020, and followed up the infected cases all over the country. The patterns of HIV spread within the Libyan regions were traced, and the risk factors were determined during the conflict period. A total of 4,539 patients with HIV/AIDS were studied from the four regions during the Libyan conflict. Our data analysis indicated that Benghazi, the biggest city in the Eastern region, was the significant exporter of the virus to the rest of the country. The viral dissemination changes were observed within the country, particularly after 2015. A major virus flows from the Eastern region during the armed conflict associated with internally displaced people. This resulted in the dissemination of new HIV strains and accumulations of HIV cases in western and middle regions. Although, there were no significant changes in the national prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Our data highlight the factors that complicated the spread and dissemination of HIV during the armed conflict, which provide a better understanding of the interaction between them. This could be used to plan for effective preventive measures in tackling the spread of HIV in conflict and post-conflict settings.
艾滋病毒/艾滋病与武装冲突之间的相互关系是一种复杂的现象，很少有研究专门针对这一研究领域。利比亚是自 2011 年北约干预以来非洲第二个被卷入战争的第二大国家。该国还经历了与保加利亚护士传奇相关的最大艾滋病毒疫情之一。武装冲突对艾滋病毒动态传播的影响尚不清楚。本研究的目的是确定武装冲突对利比亚艾滋病毒感染流行病学状况的影响，并分析冲突期间艾滋病毒毒株的传播动态。我们调查了艾滋病毒感染者在利比亚武装冲突期间的流动情况，分析了 2011 年至 2020 年报告的艾滋病毒亚型，并对全国的感染病例进行了随访。追踪了利比亚各地区内部艾滋病毒传播模式，并确定了冲突期间的危险因素。在利比亚冲突期间，我们从四个地区共研究了 4539 名艾滋病毒/艾滋病患者。我们的数据分析表明，东部最大城市班加西是向该国其他地区传播病毒的重要出口。在武装冲突期间，观察到国内病毒传播发生了变化，尤其是在 2015 年之后。与国内流离失所者有关的武装冲突期间，来自东部地区的主要病毒流导致新的艾滋病毒株传播，并导致西部和中部地区艾滋病毒病例的积累。尽管艾滋病毒/艾滋病在全国的流行率没有显著变化。我们的数据突出了武装冲突期间使艾滋病毒传播和扩散复杂化的因素，从而更好地了解它们之间的相互作用。这可以用于规划在冲突和冲突后环境中有效采取预防措施，以遏制艾滋病毒的传播。
