Karnal sees new138 HIV cases in 8 months

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, December 2

The district has been witnessing a rise in cases of human immunodeficiency virus infection. On an average, it witnessed 17 cases per month of HIV/AIDS infection in the last eight months.

As many as 138 new cases of HIV infection have been diagnosed from April 1 to December 1 this year at the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) of the health department in the district. Most of the cases are reported among people in the age group 20-40 years and among them the number of males is higher.

According to the health department data, 1,287 HIV cases have been reported since 2013-14 and 59 patients have died since then. Among these cases, there are 21 children. The transfer of the virus from mother to child (vertical transmission) is the main cause for the infection in children.

Officials say 84 per cent of the virus transmission in adults is through unsafe and unprotected sex with an HIV-infected person. “The main mode of transmission of virus is unprotected sex with an HIV-infected person. The second major cause is through transfusion of blood and blood products, and the third is through an infected needle,” said Dr Ashwani Ahuja, Principal Medical Officer.

The department has been providing both counselling and treatment to HIV positive patients. Every pregnant mother is screened for this infection, he added.