AIDS cases up in NorMin

THE Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) cases recorded in Northern Mindanao have already reached to more than a hundred, an official from the Center for Health Department in Northern Mindanao (CHD-NMR) said.

Dr. David Mendoza, head of the Regional Epidemiology, Surveillance and Disaster Response Unit (RESDRU) of the Department of Health in Northern Mindanao, said his office recorded five new cases of persons having AIDS in January this year.

“We are expecting more cases,” Mendoza said with another unofficial cases being recorded again in February.

Mendoza said Northern Mindanao recorded at least 102 cases from 1991 until 2013 with Cagayan de Oro in Misamis Oriental registering the most cases. The region recorded its first case in 1991, Mendoza said.

“We had one mortality last year,” Mendoza added. “The province of Bukidnon has seven cases, two in Camiguin, 19 in Lanao del Norte including Iligan City, 14 in Misamis Occidental including Ozamiz City, and 60 in Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro,” he said.

“It’s not your occupation that made you high-risk but your behavior,” Mendoza said.

Noel Palaypayon, HIV surveillance officer and Department Unit Manager of the National HIV Sentinel Surveillance, said that AIDS cases have been very low in the past 20 years but have doubled its infection rate in 2006 and have reached to a total of more than 13,000 cases from 1984 until 2012.

Palaypayon said it is becoming “fast and furious” with nine new cases per day last year compared to seven cases per day in 2011.

He said the country has recorded 12 AIDS cases in January 2013.

Records from the Philippine HIV/AIDS registry revealed that since 1984 up to January 2013, 12,082 HIV-positive cases have been recorded of which 10,888 or 90 percent are without obvious symptoms and 1,194 or 10 percent are AIDS cases.

“This has reached epidemic status already for the Philippines,” Palaypayon said.

The records also showed that more than 50 percent or 5,586 cases were recorded in the National Capital Region (NCR) followed by Calabarzon with 13 percent or 1,383; Central Luzon with 955 (9 percent); Central Visayas with 918 (8 percent); and Davao Regiom with 637 (6 percent).

From January to February 2013 alone, there are 395 new cases coming from the most at risk groups (Marps) including men having sex with men (MSM).

The highest number of infections among MSMs is from Metro Manila, though increasing infection rates were also noted in the cities of Angeles, Cebu, and Davao. One to three percent of MSM’s were found to be HIV-positive by sentinel surveillance conducted in Cebu and Quezon cities in 2001, the data showed.

Another at-risk group is the injecting drug users (IDUs) in Cebu City who were found to be HIV-positive with 77 percent, it said. –Sun Star