§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in theOfficial Report for each health authority in Scotland the number of persons infected with HIV; and if he will separately distinguish these numbers by age.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 7 June 1990]: The following table gives a breakdown by health board area of the total number of positive HIV antibody test results in Scotland which have been reported to the communicable diseases (Scotland) unit up to 31 March 1990. Where the total number of results in each board area is under 10, the figure, in accordance with established practice, is not published so as not to jeopardise medical confidentiality.
Health board Number of positive results Argyll and Clyde 14 Ayrshire and Arran 1 Borders 1 Dumfries and Galloway 13 Fife 26 Forth Valley 60 Grampian 40 Greater Glasgow 278 Highland 12 Lanarkshire 27 Lothian 1,053 Orkney Nil Shetland 1 Tayside 233 Western Isles Nil TOTAL (SCOTLAND) 1,769 1 Under 10. The age distribution of results by health board area is not readily available and could not, in any event, be given where the number involved is under 10. The age distribution, where known, of the total number of results is shown in the table.
452W
Age Number of positive results Under 14 years 116 15 to 24 years 723 25 to 34 years 624 35 to 44 years 158 Over 45 years 44 Not known 104
§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the correlation coefficient between the incidence of HIV infection and the incidence of tuberculosis in Scotland over the period 1980 to 1990.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 7 June 1990]: As the respective relevant data on HIV antibody positive results reported to the communicable diseases (Scotland) unit and on the notification of tuberculosis in Scotland are not compatible, any attempt at a correlation coefficient using the data would not be valid. No evidence exists of a correlation in Scotland between the incidence of HIV infection and the incidence of tuberculosis, although tuberculosis has occurred in a small proportion of persons with AIDS.
The annual number of positive reports of HIV infection and notifications of tuberculosis in Scotland from 1980 to 1989 inclusive are given in the following table:
HIV positive results Tuberculosis 1980 0 1,138 1981 2 972 1982 9 902 1983 42 829 1984 169 738 1985 314 707 1986 472 756 1987 373 560 1988 197 534 1989 151 1540 1 provisional.