HIV death rate examined

THE first UK study into the reporting of deaths from HIV infection discovered that in one area of London it was the main cause of death in young men aged 15 to 44, writes Celia Hall.

Researchers from the Westminster Hospital and Riverside Health Authority examined 213 deaths of men in the wider age group of 15 to 66 in the Riverside area in six months and found that Aids or HIV was the third commonest cause, according to a report in tomorrow's British Medical Journal. Few death certificates list Aids or HIV and an estimate of death rates from the disease suggested between 8 and 30 per cent may not be recognised.