Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - December 1, 2004
There is also concern that people are still not doing enough to protect against the disease.
The number of known cases of HIV infection in Devon and Cornwall was 319 people in 2003, the Health Protection Agency said.
Awareness groups say ignorance is what is causing much of the prejudice.
A survey about people's attitudes to Aids and HIV was published by the health agency, Marie Stopes for World Aids Day on Wednesday.
Almost a quarter of the people interviewed said they believed those who had contracted the disease through drug-use should not get treatment on the NHS, and a fifth of interviewees say those with the disease only had themselves to blame.
David, a trustee of the helpline Kernow Positive Support, has lived with HIV for 20 years.
He said much of the prejudice he had experienced was because of ignorance.
He said: "A lot of people like myself are stigmatised and pigeonholed.
"You're either seen as gay, extremely promiscuous, or an injecting drug user.
"Many people think that it is because those infected do not live an 'everyday' life and that only certain kinds of people have those kinds of problems."
The Devon-based Eddystone Trust warned that HIV did not discriminate.
It said: "It can affect anyone, regardless of sexuality, gender, race, ability, age, etc."
"But because of recently developed anti-HIV medication, in many cases, people are now living longer with HIV than ever before. Indeed, in this country and others in the western world, even though infection rates have increased, death rates have fallen."
It is believed about 53,000 adults are now living with HIV in the UK and 39.4m people are living with the virus globally.
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