Eight more people test HIV positive
Eight more people test HIV positive
JAKARTA (JP): A Ministry of Health official said yesterday the
number of HIV/AIDS carriers had increased by eight persons,
bringing the total from 509 early February to 517 early this
month.
Director General of Communicable Diseases Hadi M. Abednego
told Antara that the latest carriers included six persons from
Irian Jaya and two from Jakarta.
Out of the 517, 393 have Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) --
the virus that leads to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
(AIDS). The remaining 124 persons have full-blown AIDS; 73 of
this group are dead, Hadi said.
He said the carriers include 346 men and 151 women; no data
was available for the gender of the other 20 people.
Four hundred and twenty-five people were infected through
sexual contact, five shared needles, four were infected through
blood transfusions including two hemophiliacs, one baby less than
one year old was infected through its mother and the remaining 82
cases were undetermined, he said.
Hadi said that apart from the baby, of those infected 26 were
aged between 15 and 19, 241 between 20 and 29, 141 between 30 and
39, 43 between 40 and 49, 11 between 50 and 59, three were aged
above 60 and the remaining 51 people's ages were unknown.
The people were dispersed throughout 20 provinces including 23
in North Sumatra, one in West Sumatra, 44 in Riau, 23 in South
Sumatra, 162 in Jakarta, 18 in West Java, nine in Central Java,
four in Yogyakarta, 39 in East Java, four in West Kalimantan, two
in South Kalimantan, three in East Kalimantan, one in North
Sulawesi, four in South Sulawesi, 35 in Bali, two in West Nusa
Tenggara, one in East Nusa Tenggara, 13 in Maluku, 128 in Irian
Jaya and one in East Timor, he said.
Hadi estimated that the actual number of HIV/AIDS carriers is
100 times the reported figure, with 90 percent of them infected
through sexual contact, either heterosexual or homosexual.
Irian Jaya has for some time experienced problems concerning
the influx of foreigners, especially Thai fishermen, with AIDS.
The local health office had recently expressed doubts over the
validity of AIDS-free certificates Thailand has issued to its
fishermen working in Indonesia. The office had found Thai
fishermen who either had AIDS or were HIV-positive, despite
having just come from Thailand and possessing the certificates.
At least 50 Thai fishermen have recently been shipped home
because they had AIDS or HIV. (01)