DOH logs 1,292 new HIV cases

MANILA, Philippines — Up to 1,292 cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were detected in the country in February.

The latest HIV/AIDS Registry of the Philippines report of the Department of Health (DOH) showed that 1,236 or 96 percent of the cases are male and 56 or four percent are female.

Of the detected cases, 337 of the patients had advanced HIV infection at the time of diagnosis.

“The average cases per day in February is 47,” the DOH said.

Forty-four deaths due to HIV infection were recorded.

The DOH said sexual contact is the most common mode of transmission with 1,277 cases.

Male-to-male sex accounted for 905 cases; sex between male and female, 224 cases, and male-to-female sex, 148 cases.

There were two cases of mother-to-child transmission.

Thirteen of the cases have no available data.

The region with the most number of new cases is Metro Manila with 294 followed by Calabarzon, 253; Central Luzon, 133; Davao, 84, and Central Visayas, 80.

“These regions comprised 65 percent of the total number of cases during this period,” the DOH said.