New HIV cases up 81% in August

MANILA, Philippines – A total of 196 Filipinos, including 23 overseas Filipino workers, were diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in August, a party-list lawmaker said Tuesday.

The figure is 81% higher compared to the 108 new cases reported in the same month last year.

This brought the cumulative number of HIV cases discovered in the first 8 months of the year to 1,416, LPG Marketers Association Rep. Arnel Ty said, citing data from the HIV and AIDS Registry of the Department of Health.

“At the rate new infections are soaring, we are easily looking at 200 new cases monthly for the rest of the year, 330 new cases monthly by 2012, and 550 new cases monthly by 2013,” Ty said in a statement released Tuesday.

Of the 196 new cases, 182 were males and 14 were females, Ty said. Their median age is 28 years.

Fifty-five percent, or 108 of the new cases, are based in Metro Manila.

Four patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) died in August, bringing to 13 the total number of deaths in the country this year due to the disease.

Ty said that based on the records, 7,431 Filipinos have been infected with HIV since passive surveillance of the disease began in 1984. Ninety-one percent, or 6,787, were infected as a result of unprotected sexual contact.

The rest were infected via contaminated needle sharing, mother-to-child conveyance, tainted blood transfusion and needle prick injuries, he added.

Ty and four of his colleagues are calling on Congress to revisit the AIDS Prevention and Control Law and a budget of P400 million to jumpstart a national action plan aimed at suppressing HIV/AIDS. –abs-cbnNEWS.com