Every man and woman in Scotland could be screened for HIV as part of a revised government action plan against the virus, it was revealed yesterday.

Every man and woman in Scotland could be screened for HIV as part of a revised government action plan against the virus, it was revealed yesterday.

Jim Sherval, a specialist in public health with NHS Lothian, said proposals to implement automatic screening were "currently under active discussion" with the Scottish Government.

Ministers are set to deliver their HIV action plan in the spring.

Fears over undiagnosed HIV have led the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) to back the British HIV Association's calls for automatic screening of people aged 15 to 59 when they register with a GP or are admitted to hospital in areas where HIV prevalence is two or more per 1000.

The proposal received a boost on Wednesday when the medical journal The Lancet reported a new World Health Organisation study. It forecast that universal testing, followed by immediate anti-retroviral therapy, could reduce new HIV cases by 95% within 10 years.

While no health board in Scotland meets the British HIV Association's criteria for prevalence, NHS Lothian's rates of diagnosed HIV - 1.5 to 1.99 per 1000 - are twice those of any other area.

According to Medical Research Council data, Glasgow has the highest levels of undiagnosed HIV in the UK.

The HPA says around 28% of carriers do not know they are infected.

Between 1988 and 2001, annual HIV diagnoses have levelled out at 150. Since then figures have tripled and, since 2004, have exceeded the previous peak of 1988.

David Johnston, director of Edinburgh HIV charity Waverley Care, said: "It may well be the GP practices in some areas should definitely be looking at proactively offering an HIV test to every new patient that registers.

"I think that would be a helping way forward in terms of thinking about how to maximise people's chances of living well with HIV."