HOMELESSNESS and a surge in addicts injecting cocaine in Glasgow created a “perfect storm” for the largest outbreak of HIV in the UK for 30 years.

Between 2011 and 2018, the prevalence of HIV among injecting drug users in Greater Glasgow and Clyde increased from 0.1 per cent to 4.8% - and from 1.1% to 10.8% in Glasgow city centre.

More than 100 new cases of HIV were diagnosed among injecting drug users in the region during the seven-year period.

Researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University, whose study is published in the Lancet today, said the spike in HIV coincided with a significant increase in the proportion of these addicts injecting cocaine, from 16% to 50% across the region, and from 37% to 77% in Glasgow city.

Cocaine injection is a known risk factor for HIV because its stimulant effects are short-lived, encouraging addicts to inject more frequently and therefore increasing their risk of exposure to blood-borne viruses because they are less likely to use clean equipment.

The researchers add that it is “unclear why there has been such a huge recent shift towards powder cocaine injecting” in a locality traditionally dominated by heroin, but suggest that a reported decline in heroin purity in the UK at a time when the purity of cocaine circulating in Europe is higher “might have increased its attractiveness”.

Dr Andrew McAuley, a senior epidemiologist and lead author on the study, said: “The key drivers of infection are an increase in cocaine injecting, and homelessness.

“We also have a large population of people who inject in public places in Glasgow at a time when HIV has re-emerged. A combination of these factors has created a perfect storm for rapid transmission of HIV among people who inject drugs in Glasgow.”