Rise in HIV.

NEARLY half of all new cases of HIV in one English region were infected abroad, officials said.

In all, 42% of sufferers contracted the disease and brought it into the country, with 74% of that group black Africans. The figures relate to the North West and were released by the Health Protection Agency in conjunction with the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moore's University. The data is from 2008 and shows a rise in the number of HIV carriers. Overall, the total number of people in treatment hit new highs - with 5,767, an 11% increase on 2007 when the number was 5,212. And there was an increase in the number of people reporting the disease - a reversal of the trend seen in 2006 and 2007.

There was a 13% increase in the number of cases new to the monitoring system in 2008, 925, up from 817 in 2007.

The numbers of new cases infected through sex between men, injecting drug use and heterosexual sex have all increased since 2007.

In 2008, straight and gay sex were the main exposures to HIV - 48% the former and 41% the latter.

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