MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) bared yesterday that just under 500 new cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were recorded in November 2014; 28-percent higher than in November 2013.
Of the 492 new cases of HIV infection documented by the DOH’s National Epidemiology Center, two-thirds fall into the 15-24 age range.
Majority – 464, to be precise – of the cases were infected with the virus through sexual contact. Twenty-eight cases reported intravenous drug use as the source of infection.
The DOH also reported that 40 of the cases had progressed to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and that there were 10 deaths among those with full-blown AIDS.
“Eighty-three of the new HIV cases came from the National Capital Region, Region 4-A, Region 2 and Region 11,” the DOH said.
There are 22,018 cases of HIV and AIDS recorded since 1984. Over 5,000 of these were documented in the past year.