Number of new HIV cases down 10% on 2010

THE NUMBER of new cases of HIV being diagnosed in Ireland is on the decline but the rate of infection among young gay and bisexual men is increasing.

Figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show 152 new cases of HIV were diagnosed in the six months to June and that 60 of those affected were gay and bisexual men.

The number of new cases this year was some 10 per cent lower than in the same period in 2010 (164) and was 25 per cent lower than the figure for 2009 (209).

On World Aids Day yesterday, Tiernan Brady of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network said HIV had become a growing risk for a new generation of young gay and bisexual men.

He said that 37 per cent of new cases diagnosed among gay and bisexual men were in the 15-29 age group – which was a “worrying trend” as it was more than double the number recorded five years ago.

Mr Brady said there was no one reason for the rise of HIV among younger men but that awareness of the virus was not as high among people who grew up in the last decade when compared to children of the 1980s and 1990s.