MANILA, Philippines - A seven-year-old boy, who had contracted the AIDS virus while he was still in his mother’s womb, died of the disease last January, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday.
In its Philippines HIV and AIDS Registry, the DOH said the boy was one of 208 new AIDS cases recorded two months ago.
The DOH said the cases for the month of January were 39 percent higher than the 152 cases monitored in January 2011.
“Most of the cases (96 percent) were males. The median age was 27 years old (the range is between 7 to 56). The 20 to 29 years old age group had the most number of cases with 61 percent. Fifty-eight percent (123) of the reported cases were from the National Capital Region,” the DOH noted.
The other regions that accounted for a significant number of new HIV cases were Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Davao, Western Visayas and Central Visayas.
Sexual contact accounted for 204 of the new infections, followed by needle sharing among injecting drug users (3) and mother-to-child transmission (1).
Since five years ago, the trend was predominantly males-having-sex-with-males type of sexual transmission at 90 percent.
Since the DOH started the registry in 1984, a total of 8,576 HIV cases have been recorded, including 976 AIDS cases.
The age groups with the most number of cases include 20-24 (20 percent); 25-29 (27 percent) and 30-34 years old (19 percent).
“Of the 8,576, 92 percent (7,854) were infected through sexual contact, 3 percent (268) through needle sharing among injecting drug users, 1 percent (56) through mother-to-child transmission and less than 1 percent (20) through blood transfusion,” the DOH added.