616 HIV/AIDS cases in Irian Jaya

616 HIV/AIDS cases in Irian Jaya

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: A total of 616 cases of HIV/AIDS have
been recorded in Irian Jaya in 12 different regencies and two
municipalities, a local health official said here on Sunday.

The head of HIV/AIDS research at the Irian Jaya health office,
Gunawan Ingkokusumo, said that the 616 cases were those that were
recorded by his office as of July 31, 2001.

According to him, Merauke had the highest number (327 cases),
followed by Mimika/Timika (80 cases), Sorong (53 cases) and
Jayawijaya (47 cases).

The other regencies with a high incidence of the disease were
Fakfak/Kaimana with 31 cases and Nabire with 31 cases, Gunawan
said.

Of the 616 cases, 325 were men and 281 women, with the
remaining 10 cases being unidentified, he said.

Gunawan explained that HIV affected people mostly through
sexual relations without the use of protection in the form of,
for example, condoms.

"The virus poses a major threat to the public. Therefore, the
government and the relevant agencies are expected to take proper
measures to prevent the virus from spreading further," Gunawan
was quoted by Antara as saying.

Official data collected by the Directorate General of
Communicable Diseases at the Ministry of Health shows that there
are a total of 1,572 patients infected with the Human Immuno-
deficiency Virus (HIV) and 578 cases of Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the country as of last month.

Overall, the highest number of AIDS cases reported last month
was in Jakarta with 299 cases, followed by Irian Jaya with 210
cases, West Java with 37 cases, while Bali, East Java and Riau
had 26, 22 and 14 cases respectively. (02)