More routine HIV testing is needed to reduce late diagnoses, says public health agency

More than half the people who received a diagnosis of HIV in the United Kingdom in 2010 came forward for testing after treatment should have started, latest figures from the Health Protection Agency show.

The figure is a concern, because the later the infection is diagnosed the more likely it is that patients pass on the infection or fall ill, said Valerie Delpech, head of HIV surveillance at the agency. Two thirds of the 680 people who died from HIV in 2010 received a late diagnosis, says the agency in its 2011 report on HIV in the UK.

Dr Delpech, a consultant epidemiologist, said that HIV was a “manageable” illness for most people in the UK who are …