Tables turn in HIV stakes

More "straight" people are contracting the virus

More heterosexual people in Scotland are being diagnosed HIV positive, according to health experts.

They say there are more heterosexual carriers of the virus than intravenous drug users and homosexuals, the two groups previously considered to be more at risk.

Many of those diagnosed in the last 12 months are young people who contracted the infection during foreign holidays.

So far Aids has killed 15 million people worldwide and more than 34 million people are living with HIV.

Young people between 19 and 25 tend to be the most sexually active group in society

David Johnson

In Scotland every year, about 200 new infections are reported and for the first time those who contracted it heterosexually are said to have overtaken in numbers the two main high-risk groups.

Fourteen years ago, the number of injecting drug users diagnosed with HIV stood at 239. That figure has steadily fallen and now stands at 18.

Figures for homosexual people are similar, falling steadily from 71 to 57.

However, figures for heterosexual transmissions have risen year on year.

One of the reasons could be a rise among young people returning from foreign travel, according to David Johnson, director of the Waverley Care Trust in Edinburgh.

Young people can "forget" about protection

He said: "Young people between 19 and 25 tend to be the most sexually active group in society.

"They essentially go off and forget about any safe sex messages, don't see themselves at risk and are therefore vulnerable to infection.

"We know that last year more than 32 people came back HIV positive."

Dr James Doich, director of the Aids charity Crusaid, said: "The message is very, very clear and it's the message that the gay community has been targeted with for years but now we have to broaden that message to the straight community as well."

Figures released last year revealed that the 1,000th victim of Aids had been recorded in Scotland.

The statistics also disclosed that the number of people who have contracted HIV virus had topped 3,000 for the first time.

The Scottish Executive said a report due out next month would detail how it expects to combat the problem.