Quarter of HIV sufferers unaware of infection
Tuesday, 25 Nov 2008 17:33
In 2007 around 77,400 people living with HIV in UK
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In 2007 around 77,400 people were living with HIV in the UK, with more than a quarter unaware of the infection, new figures show.
Data released from the Health Protection Agency today shows the number of people infected increased from 73,000 in 2006, with 7,734 new diagnoses.
The estimated number of people infected through heterosexual contact has increased from 540 new diagnoses in 2003 to 960 in 2007, and has doubled from 11 per cent to 23 per cent as a proportion of all heterosexual diagnoses during this period.
Among gay men, diagnoses continued to increase with 3,160 men - 41 per cent of all diagnoses – testing positive 2007.
Today's statistics also show that almost a third of the people are being diagnosed with HIV late - after when therapy should have begun – meaning they are missing out on benefits of early diagnosis.
Dr Valerie Delpech, head of HIV surveillance at the Health Protection Agency's centre for infections, said: "Diagnosing HIV infections earlier will reduce transmission of this infection as those unaware of their positive status pose a greater risk to future sexual partners.
"Late diagnosis also has a major impact on disease and life expectancy and it is vital that people are diagnosed early.
"It is very worrying that so many people remain unaware of their HIV status. Wider HIV testing in high prevalence areas of the UK is urgently needed to reduce the number of undiagnosed infections."
New national guidelines recommend wider HIV testing and state that all health professionals should offer HIV testing to men and women aged between 15 and 59, who are registered with a GP and admitted for medical care.
Dr Delpech added: "Access to testing must be made easier. We need to improve availability of HIV testing in a number of healthcare settings, including general practice, to improve diagnosis of this infection.
"Without this we will not see the reduction in transmission that we need to see, or a further fall in serious disease."