New HIV cases down by 10.8%

THE number of HIV diagnoses made last year fell by 10.8% on 2003, latest figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) show.

Last year, 356 new cases of HIV were reported and in total, there are about 3,764 people with HIV.

The HPSC revealed on World AIDS Day that up to 178 of those diagnosed last year were heterosexuals, which is half of all new cases. This compares to 223 in 2003 and 232 in 2002. However, 39 of the new cases did not give information on which risk group they fitted and so they could potentially fit this group, the HPSC warned. A total of 192 of those diagnosed in 2004 were male, and 161 were female while gender was unknown for three cases.