Compiled
and edited
by Martin Flynn
During the last 10 years the number of new diagnoses
of HIV among gay men in the UK has scarcely varied, averaging out at just
over 1400 new infections per year.
The PHLS's Dr Noel Gill said: "Knowing how many infections are recent
is important, because it gives us an insight into the size of the ongoing
problem."
PHLS research last year revealed that out of 162 HIV positive gay men
who turned up at a sample of GUM clinics suffering from acute STI symptoms,
77 were already aware of their HIV status - but 85 were not. These men
represented 45 per cent of all HIV positive gay men attending the GUM
clinics.
In another recent study, as many as 85 per cent of men who have had unprotected
anal sex men are 'unaware of whether they have placed themselves at significant
risk of HIV.'
Dr Alan McCowan and a team from the Victoria Clinic in London evaluated
4,000 people who visited the website www.youchoose.org.uk for pre-test
counselling and found that 60 per cent of users reported unprotected anal
sex with a person of unknown HIV status. Of this group, 85 per cent said
they were 'not aware of any significant risk'. Since its launch in January
this year, the 'You Choose' website has had nearly 20,000 visitors.
page 2 of 6
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Newham is 'TB capital of western world'
Newham in East London has been dubbed the TB capital of
the western world after latest World Health Organisation (WHO) figures
reveal that the borough has the ninth highest level of the disease across
the globe.
WHO statistics show that Newham had 243 TB notifications per 100,000 of
population last year, compared with 108 in the previous year. The borough's
TB rate is now much higher than in many impoverished nations around the
world.
The high rates of new TB infections have now sparked an investigation
by councillors and officials which, they say, will concentrate on ways
of improving poor and unstable housing conditions
in the borough.
Newham Borough has a higher level of unfit housing than much of the rest
of the country,
