HIV Cases Rise By 5,000 in Britain in 2004

HIV cases rise by 5,000 in Britain in 2004

LONDON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) — The number of people with HIV in Britain has risen by more than 5,000 in a year, statistics showed on Thursday.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) report found that HIV cases stood at 58,300 last year – up from 53,000 in 2003, the BBC reported.

Other sexually transmitted infections are also on the rise. chlamydia has risen by 8.6 percent to 104,155 cases, whereas syphilis has grown by a stunning 37 percent to 2,254 cases, said the report.

“There is no part of the UK that remains unaffected by HIV or other sexually transmitted infections,” said Dr Barry Evans, an HIV exert at the HPA.

But he said rates of infection did differ from area to area.

The latest HIV figures included both those who have been diagnosed and an estimated 19,700, who remain unaware of their infection and therefore undiagnosed. And the latter part was most worrying.

Most of the new cases, 4,287, were diagnosed in heterosexuals, with 73 percent most likely to have been acquired in Africa.

Of the 58,300 with HIV in Britain, around 29,700 are thought to be heterosexuals.

Nick Partridge, chief executive of sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “We’re at a crossroads – if we don’t concentrate on prevention and access to services now, we will continue to have ever-increasing rates of HIV and the worst sexual health in Western Europe.”