By Gamal Fahnbulleh, Sky News Reporter
A record number of people in the UK are living with HIV, with almost a quarter of those with the virus not aware they are infected.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) says there are about 96,000 people who have the HIV - an all-time high.
Nearly half of all infections in 2011 were through heterosexual sex. Of these, more than half were probably acquired in the UK, compared to only 27% in 2002, according to a HPA report.
The arrival of HIV and Aids in the early 1980s led to predictions of deaths on a massive scale but with advances in science and awareness campaigns most developed countries avoided such a fate.
Thirty years later experts and campaigners fear public understanding of HIV has dropped to a worrying level.
Gary Brough was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and despite seeing advances in treatment says he is worried the public does not know enough about the virus.
He said: "In the last 10 to 15 years I think the knowledge about HIV has gone down and I think people don't pay enough attention to the messages and there's not the level of education in schools that you need.
"When I was growing up it was when HIV and Aids were first out there and it was big news. Since medication came in and since the change in it becoming a manageable condition that whole intensity of fear around the infection has diminished."
New diagnoses among gay men reached an all-time high in 2011, with 3,010 men discovering they were infected.
The HPA said that one in 20 men who have sex with men in the UK now have HIV. The figure soars to nearly one in 12 in London.
Black African people are also at higher risk, the HPA said, with 37 per 1,000 living with the infection. Overall HIV prevalence in the UK was 1.5 per 1,000 people.
Dr Valerie Delpech, HPA head of HIV surveillance, said: "These figures are a reminder of how vital safe sex programmes remain.
"Promoting HIV testing and condom use is crucial to tackling the high rates of transmission, late diagnosis and undiagnosed HIV still seen in the UK.
"National HIV Testing Week is a great opportunity to encourage people to get tested.
"We also encourage clinicians to take every opportunity to offer the test to those in higher risk groups and, in high prevalence areas, to all general medical admissions and new GP registrants."
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