VISAKHAPATNAM: There has been a slight rise in the number of HIV positive cases in Visakhapatnam district as compared to last year. The majority of youth from urban areas aged between 24 years and 35 years have been reported to be HIV positive.
Health officials attribute the slight rise to the youth getting physically intimate with known and unknown persons. This year, till October, about 990 cases have been reported as against 1,686 cases last year.
According to the 2017 survey, the district comes ninth in the State in HIV positive cases. Currently, about 16,068 persons are getting treatment at anti-retroviral therapy (ART) centre in the district.
While the AIDS centre has been functioning since 2004 with five cases reported initially, now there are four main centres at King George’s Hospital (KGH), Chest Hospital, Narsipatnam and Anakapalle. Ten more centres are linked to local hospitals.
As per the recent District AIDS Prevention and Control Unit report, there is a slight increase in the HIV positive cases compared to previous years, especially among the youth.
Officials said it has been observed the youth and students as young as 15 years of age are reported to be HIV positive.
For instance, out of 10 HIV positive cases, youth account for at least six cases. “We observed that the youth and college students in urban areas, who are HIV positive, report at the centre.
During counselling, it was found they are physically intimate with known persons, neighbours, friends and close relatives,” unit’s district programme manager KVR Sailaja said.
According to statistics, there were 2,017 HIV positive cases in 2017-18, 1,686 in 2018-19 and 990 till October this year.
Among pregnant women, there were 79 HIV positive cases in 2017, 90 in 2018 and 39 till October this year.
Since 2004, 34,105 have registered in HIV care and 16,068 of them are under treatment. Around 10,000 persons have died till now.