Rise in HIV cases among gay men

There was a sharp rise in the number of newly diagnosed HIV cases among gay and bi-sexual men last year, according to a report published today.

The number of new cases among men who have sex with other men rose 42.3 per cent from 97 in 2008 to 138 last year, according to the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).

The majority of gay or bisexual men who were diagnosed with HIV infection were born in Ireland, while a third of new cases were among men aged under 30.

Overall, there was a slight decline in the number of newly diagnosed cases of HIV last year, the latest figures show.

During 2009, 395 new cases of HIV were recorded, down 2.2 per cent compared with the preceding year. The number of new cases of Aids rose by 5 over the year from 28 to 33.

The cumulative number of Aids cases reported up the end of 2009 is 1038, with 414 deaths, including two last year.

The total number of HIV infections reported up to the end of 2009 is 5,637. Some 156 of the newly diagnosed HIV cases were among heterosexuals, while 138 infections were among men who have sex with men. A further 30 new cases were from injecting drug users.

Information on the remaining 65 new cases was not available.

“The epidemiology of HIV in Ireland is complex and due to the voluntary nature of the reporting system, it is likely that the number of case reports is an underestimate,” said Dr Aidan O’Hora, HPSC specialist in public health medicine.

According to the latest figures, 258 of those diagnosed with HIV in 2009 were male, and 137 were female. In addition, there were five new diagnoses of HIV in children, all of which are believed to have been infected through mother to child transmission.

Of the 307 new HIV cases where geographic origin is known, 141 were born in Ireland, 96 were born in sub-Saharan Africa, 21 were born in western Europe, 13 were born in central Europe, 15 were born in eastern Europe and 14 were born in South America.