BBC News - Thursday, 23 August, 2001
The director of public health at the Health Education Board for Scotland has warned that action must be taken now to raise awareness about the dangers of unprotected sex.
Jamie Inglis said that if there is a delay in taking new steps, it could be too late to stop a dramatic increase.
He said: "It will be six months to a year before we know the true spread of HIV in Scotland. Indications are that it is rising or will be rising.
"But we don't wait a year, we increase our efforts now."
There has been an increase in cases of sexually transmitted disease and cases for one of the diseases have risen by more than 50% in the last year.
Mr Inglis said prevention campaigns must be stepped up now and the public must be continually reminded that HIV and Aids have not gone away.
Derek Bodell, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, said that people becoming sexually active now will not have been influenced by the campaigns of the 1980s.
More widespread
He said: "Those campaigns of the 80s really shook everyone and made people pay attention. Thankfully we have not seen the epidemic which was predicted in the 1980s and 1990s.
"I think people are starting to think we don't need to think about this anymore. There is a danger that people don't remember the safer sex messages about wearing a condom which are so important."
However, other experts said the emphasis needs to be put on preventing and detecting other sexually transmitted diseases which are much more widespread than HIV, such as chlamydia.
Figures released earlier this year showed that this disease, which can cause infertility, serious gynaecological problems and possibly cancer if it is not treated, soared by 75% in the past five years.
Gordon Scott, a consultant at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, said: "We get lots of people coming in and saying I want an HIV test, but it is more likely they have chlamydia.
"It is important that we tell people about HIV but actually it is more important that we tell them about the infections they are likely to have.
"There is more ignorance about chlamydia. I would rather teenagers get the information about the risks of this disease and had HIV tagged on afterwards."
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