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Article History

Received: 1 July 2025

Accepted: 23 October 2025

First Online: 5 November 2025

Declarations

:

: The Robert Koch Institute is a higher federal authority within the portfolio of the German Federal Ministry of Health. According to Article 4 Paragraph 1 Infektionsschutzgesetz (IfSG; German Infection Protection Act) the Robert Koch Institute is the national authority for the prevention of communicable diseases and for the early detection and prevention of the spread of infections. The non-named notification data and associated anonymous DSS/DPS for sentinel surveillance were provided to the Robert Koch Institute according to Articles 7 and 13 Paragraph 3 IfSG and processed by the Robert Koch Institute in line with the regulations of the IfSG. The statutory notification of new HIV diagnoses and the surveillance on which this study is based (Article 7 and 13 Paragraph 3 IfSG) do not require an informed consent or an ethical review. Ethical approval and an informed consent to participate in this study were therefore not obtained. The German Parliament as legislator of the IfSG naturally also takes ethical aspects, including the Helsinki Declaration, into account. Thus, our surveillance study adheres to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki to this effect. The study protocol on HCV-coinfections among the notified new HIV-diagnoses and its legal basis have been approved by the internal review board and the data protection officer of the RKI. An approval for usage of DSS/DPS prepared from residual blood of notified new HIV diagnoses for the national surveillance has also been granted by the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Monitoring of HIV-Infections in Germany, III-401/008#0016).

: Not applicable.

: VB received travel expense support from the organizers of the German-Austrian AIDS Congress. She is a member of DIAG, The German STI society and the coordinating committee of the Federal government to implement the strategy to contain HIV, hepatitis B and C and other sexually transmitted infections. UK received support for attending meetings and/or travel from ECDC, German AIDS Society, German STI Society, and European AIDS Society and also owns ‘Exchange-traded fund’ (ETF) shares, which includes stocks of companies involved in health care. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest.