A charity is offering a new type of HIV test which can detect the virus just four weeks after a person has been infected.

The Terrence Higgins Trust is providing the service at its Fastest clinic in Brighton, which it runs in partnership with the Claud Nicol sexual health clinic at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Previous tests were only reliable three months after exposure to the virus.

Over a quarter of people with HIV don’t know they have it and almost a third of people are diagnosed late, potentially putting their health at risk.

HIV medication can enable people with HIV to live longer and healthier lives than ever before, but only if they know they have the virus.

There were 147 new HIV cases recorded in Brighton and Hove in 2008 and about 1,450 people received treatment.