RP HIV cases rise to 902

RP HIV cases rise to 902

MANILA (AFP): Five babies tested positive for the AIDS-causing Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the Philippines last month, raising the documented total to 902, government television said yesterday.

It said the babies were tested by the health department. One hundred and fifty-eight people have died in the country from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) since it was first detected in the early 1980s, the station said, adding most HIV carriers were aged between 25 and 35.

Philippine health officials say the documented cases were only the tip of the iceberg. More than four million Filipinos work abroad and the group is considered a high-risk segment.

The virus is transmitted through sexual contact, blood transfusions, contact with infected syringes, or transmitted by an HIV-positive mother to the fetus in her womb.