HIV rate in UK could rise following recent increase in STIs

Robert Fieldhouse
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This article is more than 23 years old.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the UK have been increasing in the UK since the mid 1990s.

Year on year more acute STIs are diagnosed among the population as a whole but continue to be disproportionately concentrated within young women and men who have sex with men.

In total 40% (2,349) of the 6,223 diagnoses of gonorrhoea in women made in 2000 were in 16-19 year olds. Between 1999 and 2000, diagnoses of gonorrhoea rose by 45% in gay and bisexual men. This is well above the increase witnessed in the general population. New gonorrhoea diagnoses are at a ten year high.

Glossary

acute infection

The very first few weeks of infection, until the body has created antibodies against the infection. During acute HIV infection, HIV is highly infectious because the virus is multiplying at a very rapid rate. The symptoms of acute HIV infection can include fever, rash, chills, headache, fatigue, nausea, diarrhoea, sore throat, night sweats, appetite loss, mouth ulcers, swollen lymph nodes, muscle and joint aches – all of them symptoms of an acute inflammation (immune reaction).

syphilis

A sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. Transmission can occur by direct contact with a syphilis sore during vaginal, anal, or oral sex. Sores may be found around the penis, vagina, or anus, or in the rectum, on the lips, or in the mouth, but syphilis is often asymptomatic. It can spread from an infected mother to her unborn baby.

As previously reported in AIDS Treatment Update, new diagnoses of infectious syphilis increased by 55% between 1999 and 2000. This increase was due, in part, to outbreaks among gay and bisexual men.

The presence of some untreated STIs facilitates HIV transmission. Any increase in the prevalence of STIs could herald an increase in new HIV transmissions.

In its draft National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV, the government has determined to ‘reduce by 25% the number of newly acquired HIV infections and gonorrhoea infections by the end of 2007.

Participants at last month’s Public Health Laboratory Service’s (PHLS) annual conference heard that the increase in STIs has been brought about as direct result of more people practising unsafe sex. Young people in particular, have not been exposed to the first wave of AIDS education, whilst others may need re-educating about the risks of unsafe sex after years of complacency following on from the introduction of more effective treatments for HIV.

In early 2002 the Department of Health will launch its first awareness-raising campaign in over a decade in an attempt to stem the rising tide of sexually transmitted infections.

Reports of new HIV diagnoses in 2000 received up to the end of June this year constitute the highest annual total ever reported in the UK. In total 3,551 new diagnoses of HIV infection were made in the UK during 2000. This figure is likely to rise even further as delayed reports are received.

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