This demonstrates the vital role GPs have to play in ensuring HIV is diagnosed early. When asked what action a person would take if faced with the most common symptoms of early HIV infection, the most popular choice for respondents was to make an appointment with their GP (31%). Early diagnosis also makes it less likely a person will pass HIV on to others as they’ll be aware of the necessary steps to prevent this occurring.’ Not only does it reduce the risk of serious HIV-related illnesses, new research has shown it could have huge life-long benefits. Early HIV diagnosis has significant benefits to both individual and public health. Whilst routine testing will always be extremely important, we must ensure we are maximising all chances to diagnose HIV as soon as possible and spotting the early signs is a big part of this. Such a high proportion of gay men incorrectly believing there are no symptoms of HIV is not only extremely worrying, it also means there are huge opportunities being missed to diagnose HIV early. ‘This report looking into knowledge of primary HIV infection amongst gay men is a vital piece of research, providing us with robust evidence that intense education around recent HIV infection must take place within communities most at risk, such as gay men. The most common group of symptoms selected was fatigue, loss of appetite and night sweats (44%).ĭeborah Jack, Chief Executive of NAT (National AIDS Trust), comments: When respondents were asked which group of three symptoms (occurring all together) are most commonly experienced soon after HIV infection, the majority did not correctly identify the ‘triad’ of sore throat, rash and fever (34%). The most common symptoms to occur after HIV infection are a combination of sore throat, rash and fever. This reinforces the need to diagnose people with HIV as early as possible.
New research findings from Imperial College London (the SPARTAC study**) announced at the International AIDS Society Conference suggest there could be life-long health benefits for people with HIV if they undertake a period (48 weeks) of anti-HIV treatment during the very early stage of HIV infection. Ignorance of these facts increases the risk to your own health and to the health of your sexual partners. This lack of knowledge within one of the UK’s key risk communities is extremely worrying as spotting the signs of recent HIV infection presents one of the best opportunities to get diagnosed early. In fact, between 70-90% of people experience symptoms soon after HIV infection but fewer than one in 10 respondents were aware of this. The research*, the first of its kind and conducted amongst more than 8,000 gay men, reveals 60% incorrectly believe there are no symptoms of recent (clinically referred to as ‘primary’) HIV infection. NAT, in partnership with Gaydar, has today launched a research report ‘ Primary HIV Infection: knowledge amongst gay men’.