United Kingdom: Gay Men Warned as HIV Rises

The Health Protection Agency on Friday reported that 2,830 HIV diagnoses in 2008 were linked to sex between men, down from 3,050 cases in 2007 but still the second-highest number on record. The doubling of rates over the past decade may be associated with the failure to practice safer sex. "Gay men continue to be the group in the UK most at risk of acquiring HIV, and the latest national guidelines recommend that gay men should test annually," said Dr. Barry Evans, an HIV expert at HPA. "We have taken our eye off the ball a little. We have had some national campaigns and that's been good, but there is not enough health promotion on the back of those campaigns, as we used to have." HIV diagnoses liked to heterosexual exposure fell from a high of 5,000 in 2004 to 4,200 last year. While fewer people were infected through heterosexual sex while overseas, there was a small rise in the number infected through heterosexual sex in Britain. The figures are estimates based on partial returns from clinics.

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