Ludhiana, April 25
With no treatment available for HIV/AIDS anywhere in the world till now, prevention is the only safeguard against this life-threatening infection, said Dr Rajoo Singh Chhina, professor and head of Gastroeneterology at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital.

He was delivering a health education lecture at the Government In-service Teachers Training Centre here today.

Focusing on various aspects of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis-B diseases, he said HIV was an infectious disease with many stages. People suffering from this disease could have absolutely no symptoms, a few complications or end-stage serious problems.

According to Dr Chhina, at present the number of HIV/AIDS victims in the world was around 4 crore. The infection generally got transmitted from one person to another through infected body fluids, transfusion of unsafe blood or unsafe sex. It could be passed from a mother to her baby during pregnancy, child birth or breast-feeding. He made it clear that donating blood, sharing food or physical contact with the affected persons did not, in any way, transmitted the HIV virus.

Speaking on hepatitis-B, he commented that it was one of the most common infectious diseases across the world. More than 350 million people were afflicted with chronic HBV infection and around 1 million of them died every year of related conditions like chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma.

The principal of the institute, Gurdip Kaur, extended a welcome to the guest speaker.