ALL-PARTY
PARLIAMENTARY
GROUP ON AIDS
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GROUP ON AIDS
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Renewing the focus - An Update on the Recent Epidemiology of Sexually Transmitted Infections (including HIV/AIDS) in Britain Dr Katy Sinka (Principal Scientist, Deputy head of HIV and AIDS reporting section, Health Protection Agency) and Dr Kevin Fenton (Consultant Scientist (Epidemiology), Head of STI Section) will review recent trends in STIs, including HIV, in the UK. Data from the latest annual reports for 2003 will be presented as well as a consideration of underlying trends in sexual behaviour and sexual health service provision and utilisation. Update on the recent epidemiology of Sexually Transmitted Infections (including
HIV/AIDS) in Britain Presenters: Dr Kevin Fenton - Consultant Epidemiologist, HIV/STI Division, HPA CDSC
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cause a wide range of illnesses and are a significant cause of long term and serious disability in the UK. They are associated with pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, cervical cancer, infections of newborn babies, and even death, particularly in the case of HIV infection. Although substantial declines in the incidence of some STIs were observed throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, new diagnoses have risen continually since 1995.
There has been almost a 20% increase in the number of people living with HIV in the UK, up from 41,700 in 2001 to 49,500 in 2002. The group most at risk of contracting HIV in the UK remains gay and bisexual men, accounting for about 80% (1500) of the new diagnoses in 2002 that were likely to have been acquired in the UK. In this same year, 5.4% of homo/bisexual men in London attending seven GUM clinics were infected with HIV and were unaware of their infection, as were 4% of those under 25; a clear indication of continuing HIV transmission at relatively high levels. The HIV situation in heterosexual men and women born in Sub-Saharan Africa deteriorated in 2002. The annual number of infections newly diagnosed increased still further to over 2300, the prevalence of previously undiagnosed infection in heterosexual GUM clinic attendees increased to 4.9%; and overall HIV prevalence in pregnant sub-Saharan African women increased to 2.5%. Overall, HIV prevalence in injecting drug users attending specialist agencies remained low, at less than 1%. These rising trends are putting sexual health services under increasing pressure and they will need to respond to the growing number and varied needs of HIV positive individuals. The HPA has highlighted a number of prevention strategies which could help reduce this burden including offering annual HIV tests to gay and bisexual men attending GUM clinics; doing further studies of sexual behaviour amongst HIV positive individuals and migrant populations; and developing schemes to reduce GUM clinic waiting times. Other sexually transmitted infections Increases in high-risk sexual behaviour amongst gay and bisexual men have also led to significant rises in the rates of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). For example, cases of gonorrhoea amongst gay men have almost doubled (from 1,842 in 1999, to 3,363 in 2002) and cases of syphilis have increased from 52 to 607 over the same period. As STIs facilitate the transmission of HIV, it is possible that the rise in these may have played a significant part in the increase in HIV among gay men. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 82,206 new diagnoses of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infections were reported, representing a 141% increase since 1996 and a 14% increase over the previous year. Increases of a similar magnitude were observed for gonorrhoea with 24,958 new infections being diagnosed in 2002, a 9% increase over the previous year. The most marked increases in the UK were seen in new reports of infectious syphilis. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the 1232 reported cases in 2002 represented a 902% increase since 1996 and a 68% rise over the previous year.
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All-Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS, Office of
David Borrow MP, House of
Commons, London SW1A 0AA |