A RECORD number of more than 300 HIV-AIDS sufferers will mark World AIDS Day in Cairns today as the city continues to be gripped with an epidemic of new cases.

The city’s caseload has trebled in five years and although the number is still behind Brisbane, it has now surpassed the Gold Coast with a growth rate of one new case every two weeks.

"HIV infection rates are going up gradually everywhere but we’ve particularly had a spike because Cairns has grown so much and the gay community has grown as part of that," Queensland Health’s HIV, hepatitis C and sexual health co-ordinator Carla Gorton said.

"There are more than 16,000 HIV positive people in the country and a lot have chosen to get out of Sydney, which was the epicentre of the disease in the mid-1980s, and moved to places like Queensland … and Cairns."

More than 100 of the new cases recorded in Cairns in the past few years were newcomers to the area, while there had also been an increase in locals acquiring the disease, Ms Gorton said.

She said the good news was that local doctors were diagnosing new infections in their early stages so clients could take full advantage of new treatments.

Parramatta Park man Stafford Alley, who will be among those remembering loved ones at a candlelight vigil in City Place tonight from 5.30pm, said he had lost a cousin and five friends to AIDS, the most recent late last year.

"It was really sad to visit my cousin, with his body in that state, so thin and frail," Mr Alley said.

"I’m a gay man and I have a circle of friends who are HIV positive and after seeing what the disease can do to you, that’s always in the back of my mind.

"It really strengthens my role in health promotion even more."

This year is the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day and has taken the theme: Enjoy Life. Take Control. Stop HIV/AIDS.

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