A total of 373 new HIV cases were reported to the Department of Health, Hong Kong, last year, the highest annual number ever recorded. The figure represents a 19% increase on the 313 cases in the preceding year.
HIV – or human immunodeficiency virus – is the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDs.
Reviewing the AIDS situation in Hong Kong at a press conference today, the department’s Consultant (Special Preventive Programme) Dr Wong Ka-hing said sexual transmission continued to be the major mode of HIV spread in Hong Kong.
98 new HIV cases in Q4
In the fourth quarter last year, 98 people were tested positive for HIV antibody, bringing the cumulative total of reported HIV infection to 3,198 since 1984.
The 98 cases involved 83 males and 15 females. Of them, 23 were contracted through heterosexual contact, 30 involved homosexual or bisexual contact, 16 through drug injections and two through perinatal transmission.
The routes of transmission of the remaining 27 cases were undetermined due to inadequate information.
Fourteen new cases of AIDS were reported in the fourth quarter of 2006, bringing to 855 the total number of confirmed AIDS cases reported since 1985. Twenty-nine percent were related to heterosexual contact.
In the fourth quarter, the most common AIDS defining illness was Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, closely followed by Pneumocystic Pneumonia, a kind of chest infection.
Antiretroviral treatment
Of the newly reported HIV cases in the quarter, 65 (66.3%) have received care at the department’s HIV Specialist Services or the Hospital Authority.
Seventy-four percent of the reported cases in 2006 had attended these services where effective antiretroviral treatment was offered according to clinical indication.
People with suspected risk should call the AIDS hotline, 2780 2211, for counselling. HIV antibody testing may also be arranged as appropriate through this hotline.
Information on AIDS and data on HIV/AIDS, which is released on a quarterly basis, can be viewed on the department’s AIDS website.