The number of gay and bisexual men being diagnosed with HIV in the UK reached an "all-time high" in 2011 with just over 3,000 men newly diagnosed last year. Like many other western gay communities there has been an inexorable upward trend since 2007, with more and more new cases each year. New Zealand is one of the only developed nations to buck this trend with a 40% drop in new diagnoses amongst men who have sex with men in the past eighteen months following an earlier upward spike similar to the UK's. Nearly half of the 6,280 people diagnosed last year were men who had sex with other men. Overall, one in 20 gay and bi UK men are infected with HIV and nearly two-thirds of those diagnosed in 2011 had not been to a sexual health clinic in the previous three years meaning they were capable of unknowingly infecting others all that time unless they had adopted safe sex practices. The UK's Health Protection Agency said the figures showed there was "room for improvement" in testing people amongst at-risk groups. Their data also suggests that one in four people with HIV are completely unaware they have the infection, meaning they cannot receive treatment and may still be spreading the virus.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 3rd December 2012 - 8:51am