New data shows a continued rise so far this year of people who have been diagnosed with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

According to provisional data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), there were 454 new HIV diagnoses from January to November 2018. This is an increase of 66 cases compared to the same period last year. There has been a total of 11,078 STI diagnoses overall which represents a 6% increase when compared to figures from January to November 2017.

Niall Mulligan, Executive Director of HIV Ireland told TheJournal.ie that the provisional figures for the year so far are the worst he has seen. “I don’t think we’ve seen that kind of data but it’s disconcerting that we’re almost becoming accepting of this. These figures are provisional but they do give a good indication of how things are going to be at the end of the year. So, it’s inevitable that we’re going to see 500 plus new diagnoses again this year.”