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‘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. The means that the UK has met (and exceeded) the UNAIDs 90-90-90 targets for 2020.NAT, in partnership with Gaydar, has today launched a research report ‘ Primary HIV Infection: knowledge amongst gay men’. Of all the people living with HIV in the UK, 89% are virally suppressed. 98% of people diagnosed with HIV in the UK are on treatment, and 97% of those on treatment are virally suppressed which means they can’t pass the virus on.This means that around 1 in 16 people living with HIV in the UK do not know that they have the virus. 94% of these people are diagnosed, and therefore know that they have HIV.In 2019, it was estimated that there are 105,200 people living with HIV in the UK. If taken as percentages of all people living with HIV, the 90-90-90 targets translate as 90% of all people living with HIV to be diagnosed, 81% of all people living with HIV are on treatment and 73% of all people living with HIV are virally suppressed.The aim was for 90% of all people living with HIV to be diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed to receive HIV treatment and 90% of those receiving treatment to achieve viral suppression, by 2020.Living with HIV In 2014, UNAIDS established the global 90-90-90 targets.