PEOPLE'S attitudes to the HIV virus ought to have moved on from the Grim Reaper fear campaign of the 1980s, says an infectious diseases expert.

Ian Woolley, infectious diseases deputy director at Monash Medical Centre, said the

times when people dressed in full body suits to treat

HIV-positive people were long gone.

"People have moved away from fear and prejudice because HIV treatment has changed," Dr Woolley said.

"We have a tablet able to completely suppress the virus in the blood stream. It isn't a cure but it does continuously control the virus."

Despite the advances, the president of People Living with HIV/AIDS Victoria, Paul Kidd, said people with HIV were still experiencing discrimination issues.

"Appalling levels of discrimination from employers, health-care workers and even their own families are being reported. Government policies are still discriminatory and we are calling for change."

There has been a steady increase in new cases in Victoria since 2000. Dr Woolley said most patients seen at Southern Health were heterosexual men.

"At Monash Medical Centre we see about 30 new patients a year, but there are more. Other medical centres and practitioners also diagnose new HIV patients around the south-east.

"We'd like to see a decline in new cases. The message is HIV is transmitted through unprotected sex or by being exposed to an infected bloodstream, which happens when infected people share needles. The good news is not many people are dying from HIV.

"When HIV first emerged in the '80s, it started as an opportunistic infection and people died within two years of contracting it. But since 1996 life expectancy is excellent - if the person can tolerate the medication."

He said a major issue was that many people were not getting diagnosed and sometimes symptoms were difficult to recognise.

"If they are not tested and do not want to be tested, they have not recognised the risk they are to themselves and to others. If they leave it too late, their immune system can run down so low they can die of the illness."