Surveillance of HIV/AIDS in Wales

Surveillance of HIV/AIDS in Wales

---

Surveillance of HIV/AIDS in the UK is undertaken by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) with the collaboration of Public Health Wales for the collection of data for Wales. The latest surveillance report of HIV in the UK was published by the HPA in November 2010 and is available from the link: HIV in the United Kingdom: 2010 Report

The latest trends in the rate of HIV infection in Wales (and of other STIs) are available in the report: HIV and STI Trends in Wales Report: March 2010 (PDF, 457KB) [data to the end of 2008]

As many of those who are infected do not know that they have acquired HIV, complex methods of surveillance are needed to estimate the number of people with HIV infection.

Within the UK, information on HIV infections is collected from several sources. The major sources of information for Wales are:

• results of the HPA ‘Survey of Prevalent HIV Infections Diagnosed’ (SOPHID) Scheme. This is an annual survey of all patients seen for HIV related treatment or care. Reports from this survey are available from the HPA website from the link: HPA-SOPHID Survey
• results of all clinical testing for HIV infection reported by the Public Health Wales Microbiology laboratories and NHS laboratories at
  Hereford and Royal Glamorgan Hospital (Public Health Wales CDSC HIV Denominator Surveillance Scheme)
• newly diagnosed HIV reported to the HPA Centre for Infection (HIV New Diagnoses Quarterly Surveillance Tables)
• results of screening blood donated in Wales by the Welsh Blood Service and National Blood Service (Merseyside and North Wales).

The data given below is reproduced from the latest HIV New Diagnoses Quarterly Surveillance Tables. These tables are available to download from the HPA website from the link: HPA-New Diagnoses of HIV Surveillance Tables

Numbers, particularly for recent years, may rise due to the delay in receiving some reports. Data presented here is to the end of June 2010.