Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - March 6, 2003
Dr Lynn Riddell, an African doctor based in the town, believes part of the increase is due to asylum seekers from Africa - which has a higher infection rate - who unwittingly bring in the HIV virus.
She said: "Our big problem is not only the increase, but also the potential spread within the population in Northampton."
Dr Riddell told BBC Look East that she was concerned her comments would be regarded as racist by some people, but insisted they were not.
She said: "If people are going to come here as asylum seekers, we need to offer them medical services, we need to get into the community, we need to educate them, we need to look after them.
"If it's not dealt with now, we're just going to have an explosion in our population."
Spiral out of control
Local HIV awareness groups think an increase in government funding is needed to address the problem.
Stuart McQuade, of Positive in Northampton, said: "We need to have, from the government and from the Department of Health, adequate resources to treat all infected HIV positive people.
"We need the right money to make the right response."
Dr Riddell said that unless the government increased its focus on HIV awareness and prevention, the infection rate will spiral out of control.
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