§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of homosexuals presenting themselves for treatment at sexually transmitted disease clinics in London is found to be HIV positive.
§ Mr. NewtonI regret that this information is not available.
§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services when he expects his Department to be in a position to make estimates of the number of AIDS infections in the United Kingdom in 1991.
§ Mr. NewtonA group of experts is currently looking at the monitoring and surveillance of HIV infection and AIDS and will be making recommendations on how present systems can be improved. It is hoped that the improvements will produce better data which can be used as a basis for forecasting numbers of future cases.
§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has as to the relative concentration of the HIV virus in the various body fluids of infected persons.
§ Mr. NewtonHIV can be detected in some infected individuals in a variety of body fluids. Precise quantification is not possible, although it is apparent that even in the same individual the reliability with which virus can be isolated can vary from time to time. Those fluids which commonly contain enough virus to transmit infection are blood, semen and vaginal fluid.