Worst year for gay men with HIV

This year could be the worst on record for gay and bisexual men contracting HIV, the New Zealand Aids Foundation says.

Though there has been a sharp decline in numbers of heterosexual people diagnosed with HIV, NZAF says it still has grave concerns for gay or bisexual men.

Only 35 of the 149 new cases of HIV last year were heterosexual, compared with 87 cases in 2006, according to figures released by the AIDS Epidemiology Group at the University of Otago.

NZAF director Shaun Robinson said the story was different for gay communities and it was the worst year on record for those sectors.

"In addition to the 90 gay and bisexual men who are shown to have contracted HIV in 2010, there are another 15 men for whom the method of HIV transmission is unknown. It's very likely that most of them will be gay or bisexual men. The previous peak in infections was 93 in 2008. Not even in the early days of AIDS in the 1980s were rates of infection this bad in New Zealand," he said.

HIV testing was the best way to control the HIV epidemic as it was vital to diagnose HIV before it was past the point when treatment should have begun, the foundation advised.

There are an estimated 1800 people living with HIV in New Zealand.

 

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