DOH Discloses 646 Newly Reported HIV Cases in February
MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) disclosed Thursday that there were 646 new HIV/AIDS cases recorded in February, the highest since the country reported the first cases in 1984.
Based on the DOH registry for HIV/AIDS, the new cases had brought to 23,709 the number of cases on record since 1984 and to 1,182 this year. There have been 17 deaths.
The DOH said the 646 new cases were 33 percent higher compared to the 486 cases during the same period last year.
Forty-three of the cases were already AIDS at the time of reporting.
“Reported modes of transmission were sexual contact (586), needle-sharing among injecting drug users (58) and mother to child transmission (2). Eighty-four percent of the sexually transmitted cases were among males who have sex with males (MSM),” the DOH reported.
Some 94 of the 646 cases were those who have engaged in transactional sex either by accepting payment for sex, paying for sex or both.
“Most (94 percent, or 88) were males whose ages ranged from 17 years to 73 years (median: 29 years). Fifty-six percent of males who engaged in transactional sex were the ones who paid for sex,” the DOH said.
For females, ages ranged from 21 years to 36 years (median: 27 years). Sixty-seven percent of females who engaged in transactional sex reported receiving payment for sex.
The regions with the highest number of reported cases for Feb. 2015 were National Capital Region with 262 cases, Region 7 with 96 cases, Region 4-A with 95 cases and Region 3 with 48.