The NHS has estimated that 70,000 patients will need HIV treatment this year, with figures predicted to rise to 74,600 in 2011.
The predicted hike in patients seeking HIV care by 2011 suggested a 60% increase from 46,714 in 2005, according to figures disclosed in a written Commons answer from health minister Anne Milton.
It indicates a steady rise from the 65,319 patients seen for HIV care in 2009.
Ms Milton said: “The estimated numbers of diagnosed HIV-infected individuals receiving care in 2010 and 2011 (rounded to the nearest 100) have been extrapolated from the number of individuals seen for HIV care in the previous five years.
“Between 2005 and 2009, the annual increase in the numbers of HIV care has been between 4,200 and 5,000, and the average annual increase has been used to estimate the numbers that will be seen in 2010 and 2011.”
According to the NHS Choices website, at the end of 2005 the number of adults aged over 15 living with HIV in the UK was estimated to be 63,500 adults. Of these, nearly a third (20,100) did not know they were infected.
The figures also found that the number of HIV cases is rising each year, increasing with new diagnoses and the fact that people are living longer as a result of more effective medication.
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