A spectre returns

A TELEVISION campaign in the 1980s showed a volcano exploding and dark clouds looming over a blackened tombstone chiselled with the word AIDS. 'Don't die of ignorance', intoned a grim voice. Panic about the HIV/AIDS epidemic was widespread. Now better treatment, and better understanding of how the virus spreads, means that HIV is no longer a death sentence. But amid the good news there is cause for concern; among gay men in Britain infections are rising.According to statistics released on November 18th by Public Health England (PHE), part of the NHS, 110,000 people in Britain were living with HIV in 2013, the highest number ever. But that is cause for celebration. Those infected are living much longer. People are being tested more often and diagnosed sooner. Between 2004 and 2013 new infections among heterosexuals fell by half.Over the same period, however, the estimated annual number of new infections among men who have sex with men rose by a third, to 3,250. Some 13% of gay men in London are living with HIV. Compare that to San Francisco; the prevalence is higher'fairly static at about 24%'but the rate of new diagnoses is falling. In London, it is rising. This is partly explained by better testing. But reckless behaviour is also to blame.'Chemsex''taking drugs, especially crystal methamphetamine, GBL, or mephedrone, just before...Continue reading
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