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)