News Archives |
Volume 2 No 13; 28 March 2008
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Continuing high levels of HIV diagnoses in men who have sex with men: HIV and AIDS in the United Kingdom - data to the end of December 2007
Continuing high levels of HIV diagnoses in men who have sex with men: HIV and AIDS in the United Kingdom - data to the end of December 2007
In 2007, there was no evidence of a fall in the current high rate of HIV transmission among men who have sex with men (MSM) within the United Kingdom (UK), which has remained at epidemic level. During the year, an estimated 6,840 cases of HIV infection (adjusted for reporting delays) were newly diagnosed in the UK [1]. This represents a 12% decline from a peak of 7,800 new HIV diagnoses that occurred in 2005. Almost all this decline in new HIV diagnoses was in HIV-infected heterosexuals from sub-Saharan Africa who were probably infected there. In contrast, the annual number of new HIV diagnoses in MSM has remained above 2,600 for the third year in succession (the highest levels ever).
Figure 1: HIV diagnoses in men who have sex with men and in selected heterosexual groups. UK data* to end December 2007 (adjusted for reporting delays)
Of the 6,840 HIV infections diagnosed in 2007, an estimated 2,630 (38%) were in MSM and 3,860 (56%) were in heterosexual men and women. In each of the past three years over 2,600 new HIV diagnoses have been made in MSM (figure 1). Where probable country of infection was reported (1,519), 82% (1,240) of HIV-infected MSM newly diagnosed in 2007 were probably infected in the UK. Over recent years there has been no change in the median age at which HIV infection was diagnosed in MSM, and little change in the median CD4 count at HIV diagnosis (figure 2). The consistency of this pattern strongly suggests that new HIV infections are occurring at a similar rate to which infections are being diagnosed in this group (i.e. that transmission of HIV among MSM has stayed high since 2004 and remained at epidemic level).
There were an estimated 690 HIV infections diagnosed in 2007 that were probably due to heterosexual transmission within the UK. Numbers of infections acquired heterosexually within the UK have been steadily rising throughout the past decade (figure 1) so that for each of the past three years there have been around 700 new diagnoses in this category, a clear indication that heterosexual HIV transmission is now firmly established within the UK.
The majority of the 2007 new HIV diagnoses in heterosexuals (70%; 2,690) were in individuals probably infected in Africa. This represents a 29% decline (figure 1) from the peak estimated in 2005 (3,790). These figures include individuals infected while travelling or living abroad, but mostly were individuals infected in their country of origin prior to migration to the UK. Other routes of infection represented less than 5% (280 cases) of estimated new diagnoses reported in 2007, of which 160 infections (2% of total) were among injecting drug users.
Figure 2: Median age and median CD4 cell count at first HIV diagnosis among
men who have sex with men
During 2007 there were an estimated 750 new AIDS diagnoses and 540 deaths reported in HIV-infected individuals (adjusted for reporting delays). These numbers have continued to decline following the introduction of effective anti-retroviral therapy.
Source data: The Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, Health Protection Scotland, and the UCL Institute of Child Health (London).
References
1. New HIV diagnoses surveillance tables. UK data to the end of December 2007. London HPA, 2008. Available at http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/hiv_and_sti/Stats/HIV/NewDiagoses/Quarterlies%202007/2007_(Q4)_Dec_Final