Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

AIDS spreading fast in Vizag

By Santosh Patnaik

VISAKHAPATNAM DEC. 1. The City of Destiny has been identified by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) as a hotspot for spread of HIV-related and sexually-transmitted diseases with alarming increase in the number of patients in the city---the second highest after Hyderabad.

The number of HIV positive cases detected among the STD patients screened by the STD and AIDS Department of King George Hospital, which was just three per cent in 1990, has now increased by 30-35 per cent.

The growth in the percentage is attributed to lack of awareness about safe sex, increase in the number of sex workers and unavailability of condoms in all areas. The `Break the silence, talk about AIDS' campaign by the Government has not yielded the desired result as not a single condom-vending machine has been installed in north Andhra and people still consider it a taboo to talk about STD or AIDS.

Even a cursory look at the cases detected by the department reveals that the incidence is on the rise. The percentage of HIV positive cases confirmed among the STD patients who visited the hospital was 3.12 in 1990, which increased to 5.6 in 1992, 26.4 in 1999, 25 to 28 in 2000 and 30 to 35 in 2001.

``The incidence will be more as most of the cases referred to corporate hospitals and private nursing homes are not being reported to us. It's unfortunate that despite so much of publicity, people still hesitate to buy condoms from a shop. Hence, installation of condom-vending machines on highways and important junctions will be a better option,'' the KGH Head of the Department of STD and AIDS, M. Ashok Babu, told The Hindu.

The KGH doctors, who also offer counselling for patients to help them overcome the traumatic experience after getting confirmed that they have been infected with the dreaded virus, say that the percentage is more among the youth. Two to four per cent of the expectant mothers admitted to the hospital have been tested HIV positive.

The national vice-president of Indian Association for Study of STD and AIDS, Y.S.C. Bose, said that a vigorous campaign to create awareness about HIV was the need of the hour. "Many patients are not aware of the fact that none of the infected persons dies of HIV. A majority of them suffer due to opportunistic infections, which can be treated through medicines,'' he said.

During a survey conducted by a city-based physician, K. Surya Rao, it has been found that the awareness level among the adolescent is low and the incidence of STD and HIV is very high among the long-distance truck drivers on the Visakhapatnam-Tuni highway and the workers who migrate to the city for industrial employment.

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