BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City –Two men from Iloilo province died of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the Provincial Health Office (PHO) confirmed.
The men were in their 30s, according to PHO assistant chief, Dr. Ma. Socorro Quiñon.
They died early this month, she said.
Based on Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 records, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) cases in the six provinces of the region have risen, with 115 new cases recorded last year.
HIV causes AIDS.
From May 1994 to February 2014, data showed 553 accumulated cases of HIV/AIDS.
Of the figure, full-blown AIDS cases reached 87.
DOH records also showed Iloilo having the most number of HIV/AIDS cases with 249, followed by Negros Occidental with 198.
Capiz has 42; Aklan, 41; Antique, 16; and Guimaras, seven.
Last month, DOH said only 15 percent of those infected in Western Visayas had registered.
Dr. Elvie Villalobos, medical specialist II of DOH in the region, urged those who secretly suffering from the disease to have themselves checked and registered.
There were a total of 17,938 HIV/AIDS cases nationwide as of March this year, Villalobos said.
“Studies show that HIV/AIDS afflicts 14 people in the Philippines daily,” he said. “And the trend is going higher.”
DOH advised Ilonggos to practice safe sex.
“We are urging everyone, especially registered sex workers, to use proper protection, such as condoms, when having sex,” he said.
Villalobos said 99 percent of HIV/AIDS transmission is through sexual contact, and only one percent is through blood transfusion with the use of needles.
Of the HIV/AIDS cases spread through sexual contact, 35 percent is transmitted through heterosexual (man-to-woman) sex, 36 percent through homosexual (man-to-man, woman-to-woman) sex, and 28 percent through bisexual (man-to-man/woman and vice versa) sex./PN
