compiled by Bruce Wainwright and Martin Flynn

On the side

Debate on HIV prosecutions heats up
The National Aids Trust (NAT) has announced that although it does not oppose prosecutions for intentional transmission of HIV, it does not believe it is in the public interest to allow prosecutions for reckless transmission of HIV during consensual sex, where a clear intent to infect is not proved.

NHS relies on refugee docs
Refugee and asylum-seeking doctors are playing an increasingly important role in the NHS. The number listed with the BMA in November now tops 1,000. There are ten times as many refugee doctors on the association’s database than three years ago. Of these, 160 refugee and asylum-seeking doctors are now working in the NHS.

Safe sex warnings
on internet
Health workers may join gay internet chat-rooms to promote safe sex messages after government-backed research suggested half of gay men go online in search of sex. A two-year study of more than 4,000 gay men found those using the
internet were more likely to report high-risk behaviour or a sexually-transmitted infection than others.

Brown backs HIV vaccine
Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced support for a global system to pool research into Aids vaccines. Speaking on World Aids Day, he told MPs the government would back proposals to pre-purchase any future vaccine in bulk quantities, making it more readily and cheaply available. But specialists say an effective Aids vaccine is still at least 10 years away.

HIV advice for GPs
A new booklet published by The Medical Foundation for Aids and Sexual Health (MEDFASH) aims to provide practical help to primary care teams on HIV. Help on clinical diagnosis and how to raise the subject of testing with patients, together with information on the side effects of antiretrovirals and how to complement specialist care will also be included.

Four in ten gay positive men ‘never disclose’
Forty per cent of gay men with HIV never disclose their status before sex, according to research from GMFA, and only 20 per cent always do it. This contrasts sharply with the expectations of HIV negative men, two-thirds of whom told the survey last year that they expected positive partners to disclose.

Black gay men ‘hardest
hit by HIV’
Research published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections shows black gay and bisexual men are twice as likely as their white counterparts to be living with HIV. Results showed that while five per cent of white British men questioned had tested positive, 12 per cent of
black men were living
with the virus.

HIV charity in Cumbria forced to close
A charity set up in Workington by Doreen and Reg Langbridge, both aged 74, has had to close. Set up following the death of their son from Aids, the charity is closing because of a lack of volunteers and money, despite the couple raising £15,000 themselves.