DOH records almost 1,000 cases of HIV in September

Close to a thousand new cases of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection has been recorded in the country for the month of September, the Department of Health (DOH) said over the weekend.

Data from the DOH’s HIV/AIDS Registry of the Philippines showed a total of 954 new HIV cases, including 24 deaths, in September.

Health officials said the figure is slightly higher than the 938 new cases posted during the same period last year.

The new cases brought to 8,533 the total number of new HIV infections, including 1,520 AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency deficiency syndrome) cases in the first nine months of the year, wherein 459 deaths were recorded.

Of the total cases in September, 179 or 19 percent had clinical manifestations of being advanced HIV infections or AIDS.

Sexual contact remains the predominant mode of transmission with 936 or 98 percent, the DOH said.

A majority or 85 percent of the new HIV cases are males who engaged in sex with males (MSM).

Male-to-male sex accounted for 563 cases, followed by 237 who had sex with both male and female and 136 who engaged in male-to-female sex.

Needle sharing among injecting drug users accounted for nine cases.

Four cases of mother-to-child transmission were reported while another five cases had no data on the mode of transmission.

Twenty-eight percent or 266 of the patients came from the National Capital Region (NCR), 141 Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and 104 from Central Luzon.

Among those diagnosed with HIV in September were 83 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Except for one, all OFWs got the infection through sexual contact.

The DOH recorded a total of 59,135 HIV cases, 6,588 of which are full-blown AIDS, and 2,917 deaths since 1984.