BBC Thursday, 31 May, 2001, 23:23 GMT 00:23 UK

UK HIV cases 'at all-time high'

Aids was first reported 20 years ago

The number of newly diagnosed HIV cases in the UK has reached an all-time high, according to figures published on Friday.

The Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) figures show there were 3,425 new cases in 2000.

It represents a 14% increase on the previous year's figures.

The PHLS also said about 10,000 people in the UK were infected with HIV, but had not been diagnosed.

The figures are released a week before the 20th anniversary of the first Aids cases being recorded in the United States.

The PHLS says the number of newly diagnosed cases in 2000 was the highest in one year since testing became widely available in 1985.

It warns that the figures may rise further as late reports of cases are received.

Last year there were 36m people living with HIV or Aids across the world - 50% more than the World Health Organization predicted in 1991.

Most cases are seen in Africa and Asia.

For the second year, the PHLS figures show the number of new diagnoses of HIV acquired through heterosexual sex - 48%, was higher than through homosexual sex - 37%.

The PHLS speculates the increase in heterosexual infections may be due to initiatives encouraging heterosexual people to get tested.

But health experts stress that sex between men is the predominant route of HIV transmission in this country.

'Good news'

Dr Barry Evans, head of the HIV division at the PHLS communicable disease surveillance centre, said: "Many of those being diagnosed are people who were infected some years ago, but who are only now coming forward for testing.

"This is good news because once people are diagnosed they can seek treatment and although HIV infection cannot be cured, treatment can largely prevent progression of the disease."

But he warned that the increase in sexually transmitted infection rates over the last five years showed people were still putting themselves at risk of HIV infection through unsafe sex.

"As we enter the third decade of this HIV epidemic, we are continuing to see cases of an infection that is preventable.

"We cannot afford to be complacent about unsafe sex and the basic prevention messages must remain the same: use a condom when having sex with a new or casual partner, and in the case of injecting drug use, never share equipment."

Prevention

The Terrence Higgins Trust Lighthouse HIV and Aids charity estimates there are now more than 30,000 people infected with HIV in the UK.

It is calling for the incoming government to introduce initiatives to tackle sexual health and HIV, including a national strategy, appropriate sex education for schools and more funding for treatment and prevention.

Paul Ward, deputy chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust Lighthouse, said: "These figures prove that HIV is still a major problem in the UK, where over 14,000 people have died from Aids-related illnesses since reporting began.

"Despite these figures and the fact that we have been living with HIV as a nation for nearly 20 years, there is still an enormous amount of stigma surrounding the disease and those affected by and at risk from it."

Derek Bodell, Chief Executive of the National Aids Trust said: "Although HIV treatments are helping people with the virus in richer nations like the UK to live longer and healthier lives, a worrying trend is that up to 25% of new HIV cases are showing signs of resistance to these drugs.

"And as our recent MORI poll showed, public complacency in Britain about the threat of HIV is on the increase - especially amongst the young - which we have got to reverse."

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001