HIV epidemic in Russia, over 1.2 million people infected in 27 regions

Although there has been a decline in HIV incidence and mortality in Russia in recent years, the number of people infected in healthcare facilities continues to increase

Generalized HIV epidemic in 27 Russian regions. The Centralnyj NII of epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor raised the alarm. The most serious situation is in the Kemerovo, Irkutsk and Sverdlovsk regions. And although, according to the Centralnyj NII for the prevention and fight against AIDS, 45 thousand new cases of infection were identified in Russia in 2025 (13.4% less than in 2024), last year a record number of HIV and hepatitis infections were recorded in healthcare facilities.

The outbreaks

An investigation is underway in Moscow into an outbreak in which 22 cases of viral hepatitis C have been detected. In the oncology departments of the Kamchatka region and Buryatia, 147 and 42 patients respectively contracted hepatitis. Three more outbreaks of hepatitis C were identified in hemodialysis centers in the Samara and Kursk regions, where 26 people were infected.

These are the highest values in the last 15 years

Outbreaks of viral hepatitis C and mixed HIV plus hepatitis infections prevail, said the head of the Directorate for Epidemiological Welfare of the Population of Rospotrebnadzor Elena Igonina. In 2025, eight outbreaks of infection were recorded in healthcare and prevention facilities in the Russian Federation, with 104 infected patients. According to Rospotrebnadzor, in 2026 the investigation of 11 outbreaks of infection in ten federal subjects of the Russian Federation continues, where the spread of HIV and hepatitis in medical organizations is suspected.

The causes

Experts identify violations of the sanitary and epidemiological regime as the main cause of infections, including the use of disposable catheters or glucometers for multiple patients. In such situations the source of infection are mostly patients with undiagnosed infections. Although donors of blood, its components, organs and tissues are well covered by simultaneous testing for hepatitis C antibodies and RNA, in other categories subject to this examination, i.e. patients in hemodialysis, hematology, transplant departments, contacts in hepatitis outbreaks, children up to one year old born to mothers with HIV and patients with immunodeficiencies, RNA screening lags far behind.