City health office targets drug users in AIDS campaign

INTRAVENOUS illegal drug users have been included in a campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS in Cebu City, a health official said.

“Before we noted an increase in HIV/AIDS cases among OFWs (overseas Filipino Workers), but that was because tests were a requirement for pre-employment. But we have low prevalence now among OFWs,” said Dr. Ilya Tac-an, Head of the STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) and AIDS Detection Unit of the Cebu City Health Office.

“Now, our campaign is focused on intravenous drug users. Particularly those who share used needles among themselves,” Tac-an added.

“There are not that many call center agents in the city,” Tac-an was referring to a study on call center agents, which showed that the respondents’ lifestyles may increase their chances of getting STDs.

“But young people are practicing more risky sexual behavior,” said Tac-an.

She pointed out that the youngest to have HIV/AIDS was 15 and the oldest, 79.

AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease that weakens the immune system of a person infected with HIV or the human immunodeficiency virus. An infected person is vulnerable to diseases, a wide range of infections and cancers that often result in death.

The virus is spread through contact with infected blood or secretions with tissues such as those lining the vagina, anal area, mouth, or eyes (the mucus membranes), or with a break in the skin, from a cut or puncture by a needle.

The most common ways in which HIV is spread are through sexual contact, sharing of infected needles, transmission from infected mothers to their newborns during pregnancy, labor (the delivery process) or breastfeeding.

There are 98 cases. Of these, three are new cases this year while one is being verified by health officials. There are 32 females and 66 males. They are from a mixed group such as office workers and the unemployed.

Last year’s figures showed that most of 18 HIV/AIDS patients were intravenous drug users, but it was not determined whether or not they shared used needles.

“The increase in cases spread through infected needles is alarming because the spread of the infection is more rapid that can later spread to the general population if illegal intravenous drug use is not addressed,” she said.

“There is still no cure for AIDS. We have anti-retroviral drugs that would lessen the signs and symptoms of the disease in a person; there is a higher survival rate,” she said. –Ma. Bernadette A. Parco, Cebu Daily News