Dr Graeme Moyle of the Chelsea and Westminster hospital also urged more availability of New-Fill. Describing the treatment as "Psychotherapy in a needle," he said: "There are significant improvements in depression in patients given the treatment." But he did warn: "This treatment will not make you beautiful".
In an article in Aids Treatment Update, however, Dr Moyle counselled caution about changing drugs to avoid LA. If the initial regime fails, he said, the second regime might have to include d4T and protease inhibitors (PIs), "which may place the riskiest combination together in the most at-risk patients."

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Almost no gay men get HIV tests at GPs

The National Strategy on Sexual Health and HIV recommends that GPs take a greater role in HIV testing and counselling. But a poster presentation at the 8th BHIVA Conference showed that the NHS faces an uphill struggle in trying to get more patients - and particularly gay men - to go to their local docs for HIV services.
Tim Chadbourne of the Public Health Laboratory Service found that 80 per cent of HIV tests done between 1995 and 2000 were done at Genito-Urinary Medicine (GUM) clinics. 97 per cent of gay men arranged their HIV test at a GUM clinic - and this proportion actually increased over the five years. In contrast, 35 per cent of intravenous drug users (IVDUs) arranged the test with their GP and this proportion increased over time. The percentage of positive results at GUM clinics decreased from 14 per cent in 1990 to six per cent in 2000, but this was largely due to an

increase in the 'worried well' - patients reporting low-risk behaviour, in whom the HIV rate was only six per 1,000 patients tested.