Report: 25 Filipinos Diagnosed with HIV Almost Daily

Manila: The first five months of the year 2016 recorded 3,802 new cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among Filipinos, or on an average about 25 Philippine nationals are being diagnosed with the disease almost daily.

The total number of such cases rose to 34,158 since January 1984. Of which, 739 new HIV cases were reported in May 2016, The Standard quoted the latest HIV/AIDS Registry of the Philippines or HARP report.

Among the 739 new cases in May 2016, 687 (93 percent) happened through sexual transmission, and mostly from men-having-sex-with-men, which accounted for 589 cases or 86 percent.

Homosexual contact was responsible for 357 cases, followed by bisexual contact with 232 cases and 98 cases from heterosexual contact, said the news portal.

Injecting drug use reportedly accounted for the transmission of 50 new cases, while two others were cases of mother-to-child transmissions.

Fifty-six of the new cases were found to be migrant Filipino workers who were infected through sexual transmission.

Since 1984, 3,070 AIDS cases and 1,759 deaths from the total of 34,158 HIV cases have been recorded in the Philippines, reported The Standard.

(Source: FilipinoTimes.ae)