Warning as Capital reports more HIV cases than 1980s

Published on Wednesday 26 November 2008 09:08

MORE cases of HIV are being diagnosed in the Capital now than during the 1980s outbreak.

The 117 diagnosed cases last year is the highest since records began in 1984, leading one charity to describe Edinburgh as an HIV "hotspot".

And while needle-sharing drug addicts were blamed for the soar in the 1980s, it is now almost an exclusively sexually-transmitted disease.

Health chiefs are also warning that it should no longer be considered a homosexual disease, warning heterosexual people with numerous partners to be on their guard.

Already this year 87 cases have emerged, with that figure set to increase by the time final numbers are published next year.

Awareness campaigns run by NHS Lothian are already well under way across the city's gay bars and universities are urging people to be tested.

Ailsa Spindler is the national director in Scotland for the Terrence Higgins Trust, the county's leading HIV and sexual health charity.

She said while a rise in testing was partly the reason for the record figures, the statistics could not hide a rise in transmission as well.

"Edinburgh definitely is a hotspot," she said. "It is now almost always sexually transmitted and, given rising rates of all other STDs, we believe there has been an increase as well as more testing.

"In addition to this figure, there are still alarming rates of undiagnosed HIV throughout Edinburgh."

NHS Lothian's award-winning HIV: The Comeback Tour has led to more people coming forward to be tested and has heightened public awareness. But the Evening News revealed earlier this month that more than a third of HIV positive people in Edinburgh may not know they have the disease.

Experts suggest a blase attitude to the condition could be because of the perceived "normal" lifestyle enjoyed by sufferers thanks to medical advances.

Ms Spindler said: "Nowadays people can be otherwise healthy with HIV and live relatively long lives.

"But we have to point out this is not a pleasant disease, it dominates your life and is fraught with complications. The earlier someone gets tested the better, because if you leave it until you develop AIDS symptoms that is very late in the day, and life expectancy would already have been affected."

The Scottish Government also has plans to launch an awareness campaign next year to reaffirm the seriousness of the illness, similar to campaigns of the late 1980s.

Nationally, 453 new cases emerged in 2007, a record for Scotland.