{"id":4809,"date":"2019-04-26T15:27:43","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T15:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/?p=4809"},"modified":"2019-04-26T15:33:30","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T15:33:30","slug":"glasgow-sees-worst-hiv-epidemic-in-over-30-years-in-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/glasgow-sees-worst-hiv-epidemic-in-over-30-years-in-britain\/","title":{"rendered":"Glasgow sees worst HIV epidemic in over 30 years in Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanhiv\/article\/PIIS2352-3018(19)30036-0\/fulltext\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Research<\/strong><\/a><strong> suggests that there has been a\n10-fold increase in HIV infections amongst drugs users in Glasgow. Britain has\nnot suffered an outbreak of this scale since the 1980s and the epidemic is not\nbeing contained. With few places to get clean injecting kits, drug users are resorting\nto sharing needles. Even though Glasgow\u2019s NHS has introduced needle exchange\npoints to reach addicts on the streets, the virus is still rapidly spreading. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/photo-1513225298384-724d696c2562-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4810\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/photo-1513225298384-724d696c2562-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/photo-1513225298384-724d696c2562-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/photo-1513225298384-724d696c2562-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/photo-1513225298384-724d696c2562.jpg 1489w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Before this, HIV prevalence had been low and\nstable within this population after Edinburgh and Dundee saw major outbreaks in\nthe 1980s. To put statistics into context, seven years ago only 1% of those who\ninject drugs were diagnosed with HIV in Glasgow. Now, it is more than 10%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another contributing factor to the HIV epidemic\nin Glasgow is the recent influx of cheap, high grade cocaine which is being\ninjected. Whereas heroin users usually need to inject only a couple of times a\nday, cocaine users are needing it more frequently \u2013 with some injecting every\ncouple of hours. This is contributing to the rapid transmission of HIV amongst\nthe Glasgow population of injecting drug users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A sigh of relief cannot be taken by those who do\nnot inject drugs. You are still at risk of HIV if you engage in risky sexual\nactivities. In the UK, most cases of HIV are caused by unprotected vaginal and\nanal sex with someone who is infected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HIV resides in the blood and some other bodily\nfluids. This includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Semen <\/li><li>Vaginal fluid<\/li><li>Menstrual blood<\/li><li>The lining inside the anus<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To catch HIV, you must be exposed to the virus\nin a way that enables it to enter your blood stream. For example, infection may\noccur if the virus enters your system through cuts or small tears that may not\nbe obvious to the naked eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Symptoms are not always present; you can still\npass on HIV if you are not experiencing any signs of infection and the virus\ncan be transmitted more easily in the weeks following initial infection. Appropriate\nand consistent HIV treatment significantly reduces the chances of transmission.\nRecent advances in\nanti-retroviral treatments mean that when taken appropriately, the viral load\nin the blood can be reduced to undetectable levels, reducing that person\u2019s\nability to infect others to zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you believe you are at risk of HIV, or are\nworried that you have been exposed to the virus, you should get tested as soon\nas possible. Early detection and treatment are the most effective way to combat\nHIV. Populations that are at a higher risk of catching HIV include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>People who inject drugs and share\nequipment<\/li><li>Men who have sex with men<\/li><li>Those who engage in chemsex (using\ndrugs to help or enhance sex) <\/li><li>Women who have sex with men who have\nsex with men<\/li><li>Those who have sex with someone who\nhas injected drugs and shared drug taking equipment<\/li><li>Those diagnosed with another\nsexually transmitted infection<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>The best way to keep yourself safe from HIV infection is to always use a condom when having sex. Just because you don\u2019t inject drugs doesn\u2019t mean you are safe from infection. If you do inject drugs then under no circumstances should you share needles, syringes or any other piece of equipment that has been used by another person. Remember that the HIV virus lives in the blood and body fluids so to keep yourself as safe as possible, don\u2019t let any of these enter your own body.<\/p><cite><strong>Mike Asher, Co-Founder of Better2Know<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3>Sources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>[1] BBC: <a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-47870621\" target=\"_blank\">Cocaine injecting and homelessness &#8216;behind\nGlasgow HIV rise&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[2] ITV: <a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.itv.com\/news\/2019-04-09\/glasgow-suffers-britains-worst-hiv-epidemic-in-over-30-years\/\" target=\"_blank\">Glasgow suffers Britain&#8217;s worst HIV epidemic in\nover 30 years<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[3] NHS: <a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/conditions\/hiv-and-aids\/causes\/\" target=\"_blank\">HIV and AIDS &#8211; Causes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research suggests that there has been a 10-fold increase in HIV infections amongst drugs users in Glasgow. Britain has not suffered an outbreak of this scale since the 1980s and the epidemic is not being contained. With few places to get clean injecting kits, drug users are resorting to sharing needles. Even though Glasgow\u2019s NHS [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[8,20],"tags":[652,257,79,651,131,650,95,435,73],"yst_prominent_words":[642,646,645,636,569,611,634,638,595,608,640,632,643,644,647,635,637,633,641,639],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4809"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4811,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4809\/revisions\/4811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4809"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.better2know.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}