Whereas there have been falls in the total number of new diagnoses in recent years, 2010’s figure is very similar to that recorded in 2009. A total of 6658 people were diagnosed with HIV.
Half the new diagnoses were in people who acquired HIV through heterosexual sex (around 3350 people). Two thirds of this group are thought to have acquired HIV abroad, and the numbers infected overseas have been falling for several years now. One third of heterosexual infections probably occurred in the UK – this figure has slowly increased over the past decade.
Forty five per cent of the new diagnoses were in gay and bisexual men. With around 3000 men diagnosed in one year, this is the largest annual figure ever recorded. It has gone up from 1820 in 2001, 2660 in 2005 and 2790 in 2009.
Four fifths of newly diagnosed gay men probably acquired HIV in the UK. While the majority of newly diagnosed men are of white ethnicity (83%), one third were born outside the UK.
The HPA also present data from new systems for detecting how recently a person acquired HIV. The procedure, known as RITA (Recent Infection Testing Algorithm) identifies newly diagnosed individuals who were probably infected in the past four or five months. The test is being currently rolled out. 37% of the new diagnoses reported in 2010 could be analysed by RITA.
Gay men are far more likely to be diagnosed during recent infection than other people. Whereas 7% of heterosexual women and 9% of heterosexual men have recent infection, 24% of newly diagnosed gay men have recent infection.
People who are diagnosed when they are younger are more likely to have recent infection than older people. Among gay men diagnosed under the age of 35, rates of recent infection are high at 31%, whereas in gay men diagnosed over the age of 50, the figure is 13%.
Higher rates of recent infection were also observed in heterosexual women aged 15-24 (14%) and heterosexual men aged 25-34 (14%).
When there are large numbers of people with recent infection, this suggests that HIV transmission is occurring frequently . High rates could also be due to regular HIV testing. The variation by age group may also be due to the fact that younger people have less time to have infections than older people.
The HPA estimates that, at the end of 2010, there were 91,500 people living with HIV in the UK. However one quarter of them are unaware of their infection. Moreover, the epidemiologists anticipate that by the end of 2012, there will be more than 100,000 people living with HIV in the UK.
The HPA now estimate that 1 in 20 gay men in the UK are infected with HIV. In London, where the infection is more common, 1 in 12 are infected. (These figures are based on the assumption that 3.4% of adult men are gay or bisexual). Among black African men and women living in the UK, an estimated 1 in 20 are infected with HIV.
No comments:
Post a Comment