‘More tests needed’ as HIV total rises (From The Northern Echo)

‘More tests needed’ as HIV total rises

11:44am Saturday 28th November 2009

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THE number of people being treated for HIV in the region has risen for the second year running, amid calls for more people to come forward for tests.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) revealed that there has been an eight per cent increase in the number of people being treated for HIV in the North-East.

In 2008, there were 1,086 people living in the North-East receiving HIV-related health care, compared to 1,012 people in 2007.

The report also shows that 129 new diagnoses of HIV were reported in the North- East in 2008, compared to 152 new cases in 2007.

There was an even bigger increase in the number of people being treated for HIV in Yorkshire and the Humber – with the 2008 total of 3,116 representing a 14 per cent increase on the previous year’s figure.

Dr Kirsty Forster, a consultant with the HPA in the North-East, said: “The fact that we are still seeing a rise in people being treated for the infection in the North-East highlights the need for increased testing.”

She urged anyone who has had unprotected sex with a new or casual partner to take advantage of free NHS hospital tests.

Dr Forster said the best way to contain the spread of HIV was to use condoms.

She said advances in treatment mean that HIV was “no longer a death sentence” and the sooner HIV and other sexually transmitted infections were diagnosed the better the outcome.

Michael Kay, service manager with Teesside Positive Action (TPA), a Middlesbrough agency which offers free walk-in HIV tests, said late diagnoses, where patients had quite advanced HIV, “are starting to come through more”. Many are in their late 30s.

“They are immediately referred to the James Cook University Hospital for treatment, but some are so ill it is hard to get their immune system up and running again,”

he added.

Every year, the Middlesbrough clinic sees about 260 patients. About three-quarters are men.

“About a quarter of the people we see are men having sex with men. The rest is a mixture, including heterosexual men and women who have had sex on holiday.”

The TPA charity runs HIV clinics across the Tees Valley and County Durham.

There are plans to link up with North Yorkshire Aids Action to open a clinic in York in the next six months.

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