Scotland's HIV cases spiral to record total

A RECORD number of new cases of HIV were reported in Scotland last year including a rise in heterosexual infections, figures revealed yesterday.

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) said the 446 cases seen in 2007 was a 29 per cent increase on the 345 cases reported in the previous year.

The figures come after sexual health campaigners warned of growing ignorance over safe sex messages.

In 2007 there were 188 new HIV cases reported in gay men – up from 138 in 2006.

There were 181 cases in heterosexual men and women – up from 155 – and just nine in injecting drug-users. Further details are not yet available.

The majority of cases among heterosexuals – 75 per cent – are thought to have been acquired outside the UK.

This compared to just 20 per cent of cases in gay men.

Of the 127 total cases thought to have been acquired in Scotland last year, 87 per cent were among gay men.

This prompted appeals from charities for this group to come forward for more HIV testing.

There are now an estimated 5,415 people living with HIV in Scotland.

Glenn Codere, from Health Protection Scotland, said: "These figures are a mixture of good news and bad news.

"On the one hand, we have the lowest number of cases ever reported in drug users but on the other we have the highest number of cases overall."

Part of the reason for the rise was an increase in HIV testing.

"In 2006, there were 38,000 HIV tests carried out in Scotland. This compared to 17,000 in 2000," he said. "There is still a problem with safe sex messages getting through."

HIV Scotland called for sexually active gay men to have an HIV and sexual health check-up.

The charity's chief executive Roy Kilpatrick said: "Even when a gay man has had a negative test in the past, if they are sexually active we recommend a clinic check-up and an HIV test."

PUBLIC IGNORANCE ON DISEASE
THE high-profile HIV awareness campaigns of the 1980s had a major impact on the public.

But there are growing fears that the warnings are no longer being heeded, as people start to see HIV as something that affects others and not themselves.

The National Aids Trust believes there is a "worrying" lack of HIV knowledge in Scotland.

A survey found only 69 per cent of Scots identified sex without a condom as a possible way of passing HIV between a man and a woman. That was compared with 93 per cent in the south-west of England.

Only 65 per cent of Scots thought that unprotected sex between two men was a way in which the disease could be passed on.

Campaigners have called for renewed awareness-raising efforts.

Earlier this month, the Scottish Government announced a £1 million plan to provide more information on sexually transmitted infections.