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More than a quarter (22,000) of those infected with HIV do not know it
HIV cases have risen by 8 percent
More people in the UK are living with HIV than ever before
More people in the UK are living with HIV than ever before, but more than a quarter do not know they have it, according to the Health Protection Agency's (HPA) annual report.
The estimated number of cases rose by 8% between 2007 and 2008 to 83,000, with 27% (22,000) being unaware of their condition. The agency also reported an increase in testing with 100,000 more tests carried out at sexual health clinics in 2008 than in 2007.
The HPA said they expected the number of people living with HIV to continue to rise as life expectancy increases due to more effective therapy, but late diagnosis was a problem, with 32% of adults in 2008 diagnosed past the point where treatment should already have started.
In 2008, gay and bisexual men were still one of the highest risk groups for HIV infection, although a fall in new infections was recorded compared with the previous year. The figures also show that heterosexuals comprised 58% of new diagnoses, and although two-thirds of these were Black Africans who were likely to have become infected abroad, the proportion of all new heterosexual diagnoses acquired in the UK is steadily rising.
Sir Nick Partridge, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, called for more testing in more clinics with the introduction of a national targeted screening programme to halve undiagnosed HIV in the UK by 2014.
"The level of undiagnosed HIV in the country is completely unacceptable," he said. "With early diagnosis and effective treatment, most people with HIV can live to old age. If left undiagnosed, they will die earlier, be significantly more ill and more likely to infect others."
