Hundreds of people are expected to attend a conference on HIV/Aids this weekend.

The annual British HIV Association (BHIVA) is expected to reveal its new guidelines for treatment of the virus during this weekend's conference at the Hove Centre.

BHIVA is at the forefront of treatment and research into the virus and regularly issues information on new drugs and treatments to hospitals, patients and support groups.

Experts from across the country will be giving talks on a number of issues, including transmission of the virus from mother to child.

Recent revelations that a quarter of people newly infected with HIV in the UK may be resistant to one or more of the drugs used to treat the condition, has highlighted the importance of research.

Scientists at the national Public Health Laboratory Service found 15 per cent of long-term patients were failing in their treatment because they were resistant to all or some of the triple cocktail of drugs that has become the main treatment for HIV.

Trials of a new drug, called T20, which prevents the virus binding to target cells, are being carried out in Brighton.

There has been a ten per cent rise in the number of people receiving treatment for HIV in the East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority area in the past three years, although part of the increase is due to people moving to the area.

Seventy to 80 new cases are diagnosed each year and the number of people being treated in the health authority's specialist HIV clinic area now stands at 700, the majority of them from Brighton and Hove.

Speakers at the conference, which is being held at the Hove Centre today and tomorrow, include Martin Fisher, a consultant physician and HIV specialist at Brighton Health Care NHS Trust.

A BHIVA spokesman said: "With the number of cases rising and the concerns about the virus' resistance to drugs, it is important people know exactly what the latest developments are and what the plans are for the future."