Heterosexuals

The number of people newly diagnosed with HIV in the UK who contracted the virus through heterosexual sex has started to fall in recent years since the peak year of 2005. However, this fall is mostly due to fewer diagnoses among people infected heterosexually abroad and heterosexual infections acquired in the UK continue to increase. Since 1999 heterosexual sex has overtaken homosexual sex as the most common route of transmission among new HIV cases overall.

In 2010, heterosexual transmission accounted for 50% of those newly diagnosed in the UK. The majority of people diagnosed in the UK with HIV transmitted through heterosexual sex were actually exposed to the virus overseas, often in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa where it is more widespread. UK acquired infections in heterosexuals rose from 320 in 2001 to 1,090 in 2010, a more than three fold increase.

Statistics

In 2010, 33% of all new heterosexual HIV diagnoses were probably acquired in the UK, a significant increase from 24% in 2007.
Those infected with HIV through heterosexual sex account for:

• the highest proportion of newly diagnosed HIV cases in each year since 1999 
• 50% of new HIV cases in 2010, 3,350 infections in total
• 51% of the total number of people needing HIV care, making a total of 35,280 people

Among those diagnosed with heterosexually acquired HIV:

• around two thirds are Black African 
• many women are diagnosed by routine testing during pregnancy 
• in 2010, 58% of heterosexual women and 63% of heterosexual men were diagnosed late, after they should have started on medication

An estimated 47,000 heterosexuals were living with HIV in the UK in 2010, including around one in four (26%) undiagnosed. One in three heterosexuals was born in the UK or a country outside Africa.