7 Mar 2011

Rising HIV rates concern Aids Foundation

1:01 pm on 7 March 2011

HIV infection rates for gay and bisexual men in New Zealand are at their worst ever, the Aids Foundation says.

The University Otago says 90 gay and bisexual men contracted HIV last year, and a further 15 men contracted the disease by a method that was not specified to researchers.

The Foundation says that rate is worse than the early days of AIDS in the 1980s.

Rates of new infection in the heterosexual community have fallen, with 35 cases diagnosed last year compared with a peak of 87 in 2006.