139 HIV deaths in January-April

The Department of Health (DOH) said that it recorded 139 deaths caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during the first four months of this year (January to April).

Of these deaths, 66 – all of them male – were in April, according to the HIV/AIDS Registry of the Philippines.

Also in April, more than 900 newly diagnosed HIV cases were recorded.

“In April, 2018, there were 924 new HIV antibody seropositive individuals reported to the HIV/AIDS and ART Registry of the Philippines. Nineteen percent (or 179 cases) had clinical manifestations of advanced HIV infection at the time of diagnosis,” the DOH- Epidemiology Bureau stated.

The data showed that 30 percent (282 cases) of the figure were from the National Capital Region, followed by Calabarzon (18 percent, 164 cases); Central Luzon (13 percent, 117 cases); Central Visayas (8 percent, 71 cases); Davao Region (5 percent, 50 cases); and Western Visayas (5 percent, 44 cases).

The health department stated that sexual contact remains the predominant mode of transmission among the 905 reported cases (98 percent).

Other mode of transmission was needle sharing among injecting drug users with 13 cases. Also, a case of mother-to-child transmission was recorded while "there were five cases that had no data on mode of transmission."

"The first case of HIV infection in the Philippines was reported in 1984. Since then, there have been 54,332 confirmed HIV cases reported to the HARP," the health department stated.