British Columbia has made remarkable progress in reducing HIV transmission and researchers now believe the province is closer than ever to achieving sustained control of new infections.
To support this next stage, Genome British Columbia (Genome BC) is funding a new project that employs advanced genomic and artificial intelligence (AI) enabled tools to better understand how transmission patterns are changing in new HIV diagnoses in BC. Announced on World AIDS Day, this initiative will help public health teams identify the source of new infections and decide what focused actions can help prevent further spread, bringing BC one step closer to ending HIV transmission for good.
HIV Transmission Patterns Are Changing
Although BC continues to report over 100 new HIV diagnoses annually, the proportion attributed to local transmission has declined substantially. Many new cases are not connected to established local clusters, which, along with other evidence, suggests they are frequently associated with inter-provincial and international transmission. As HIV transmission becomes more interconnected across provinces and borders, public health teams need novel, modern tools that improve understanding of these patterns and support more precise prevention strategies.
