Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - Friday, 18 October, 2002
This compares to a national average increase of 40%.
In the region there were 68 new cases recorded in the first three months of 2002, compared to 166 instances in the whole of 2001.
Dr Ed Ong, consultant in infectious diseases at Newcastle General Hospital told BBC News Online: "The message is not getting through to certain parts of the population, particularly heterosexual men.
"The increase in diagnoses is due to an ante-natal screening programme among heterosexual women, new diagnoses amongst homosexual men, and individuals with an African connection.
"By that I mean diagnoses amongst people who worked in Africa, have an African partner, or who come from Africa and live in this country.
"We are diagnosing heterosexual women by picking up the infections at the ante-natal screening stage.
'Look closely'
"There is a real concern about people who have not perceived themselves to be at risk. The message is not getting through to heterosexual men.
"They are not coming forward to be tested and we are seeing infections that could have been prevented if the person had permitted themselves to be tested for HIV.
Joseph O'Reilly, deputy chief executive of the National Aids Trust told BBC News Online: "The North East increases are 26% higher than the national figure, which seems substantial.
"When you get a regional variation of that nature you have to look very closely at what is going on."
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