STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Last month the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released a report about HIV cases on Staten Island 2018, and it was the lowest year of new diagnoses since 2014.

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, and it attacks the body’s immune system. It is a virus that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, more commonly known as AIDS.

Nationally, the annual number of new HIV diagnoses have remained stable in recent years. On Staten Island, there has been a decline by more than half between 2016 and 2018.

In 2018, there were 31 new HIV cases on Staten Island, which is 2% of all cases in the city. This number cut the 2016 diagnoses, 77, by more than half, the report says.

Majority of those diagnosed, 22, were men, with only seven being women and two being transgender, the report details.

On Staten Island, HIV was most common among black people, with 18 being diagnosed in 2018. Among the diagnosed were also seven white people and six Latino/hispanic people, according to the report.

HIV was most prevalent in 20 to 29 year olds on Staten Island, according to the report. There were a steady five diagnosed within each decade between 30 and 59 years old. There were three cases in 60+ year olds, and only one person between the ages of 13 and 19 years old was diagnosed.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) were identified as the highest risk on Staten Island in 2018, with 13 diagnoses. Heterosexual contact followed closely with 12 diagnosed, the report says.

Transgender people who had sexual contact only had two diagnoses, and MSM with a history of injection drug use had one diagnosis.

All of the diagnoses on Staten Island were in people who were below the federal poverty line, according to the report.

Staten Island is below the citywide level of timely initiation of care. Timely initiation of care refers to patients who received first CD4, viral load, or genotype drawn within 30 days of diagnosis. Staten Island’s rate was 68%, while the city rate was 84%.

A smaller proportion of women (57%) and transgender people (50%) received timely initiation of care than men (73%). There was also a significantly low number of Latino/hispanic people (33%) who received care compared to black people (78%) or white people (71%) , according to the report.

Staten Island (36%) also has a lower rate of viral suppression, a way to reduce the function and replication of the virus, than the rest of the city (53%).

There were 27 deaths related to HIV on Staten Island in 2018.

The Staten Island death rate sits at 6.9 out of 20, an adjusted death rate per 1,000 people living with HIV. This leaves the Island in the middle of the rates in the city, according to the report. The Bronx has the highest rate (9.9) and Queens has the lowest rate (4.3).

The post Staten Island sees lower rate of HIV cases, report says appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Aizawl: Mizoram reported on Monday that at least 17,897 people are infected with HIV/AIDS, the highest in the country, with nine persons testing positive everyday.

Over 42 per cent of those in the age group of 25-34 have tested positive for HIV in the state, one of the least populated in the country, said officials of the Mizoram State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) that released the data on the occasion of the World AIDS Day.

Several awareness programmes were organised here and across the state to mark the Day, which was on December 1, a Sunday.

Officials said 2,557 fresh HIV cases were detected in 2018-19, which was “extremely high” as the state has a merely ten lakh population.

Among the total number of HIV patients, 6,069 are female, they said.

While HIV infections were earlier higher among drug addicts and sex workers, currently cases of AIDS are also being reported from higher strata of the society, an official said.

Officials sought cooperation of political leaders, civil society members and the churches to fight the menace in the Christian-dominated state.

The post Mizoram reports highest number of HIV cases with 17,897 people testing positive appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the government’s repeated calls for the public to have themselves tested early for HIV—the human immunodeficiency virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome or AIDS — almost 20 percent of the more than 1,100 new cases recorded in July were still found to have already advanced to AIDS.

At 18 percent, or 199 of the total 1,111 new cases in July, the proportion of people with advanced HIV infection at the time they had themselves tested, had remained largely unchanged based on Department of Health (DOH) monitoring.

Since the start of the year, those who had clinical manifestations of AIDS represented between 15 percent to 20 percent of all new cases. The DOH data showed that the average number of those with AIDS at the time of testing has stayed the same over the last two years.

Health officials earlier appealed to the public, especially those from vulnerable sectors such as the youth and men who have sex with men (MSM), to have themselves tested early for HIV so they could receive treatment immediately.

Based on the World Health Organization’s HIV guidelines, unexplained chronic diarrhea for a month, pulmonary tuberculosis, recurrent severe bacterial pneumonia and chronic herpes simplex infection are among the clinical signs that a person’s condition has already advanced to AIDS.

While antiretroviral therapy doesn’t cure HIV, it helps reduce a person’s viral load and the risk of transmitting the virus.

The DOH said in June that a total of 38,903 people living with HIV are currently receiving treatment.

In the latest report, the most affected are those between 25 and 34 years old, who compose 51 percent of the new cases (567).

Most HIV cases—34 percent or 380—are recorded in the National Capital Region.

Other regions that reported high HIV incidence are Calabarzon (180), Central Luzon (134) and Central Visayas (93).

Earlier, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said that while new cases worldwide from 2010 to 2018 had declined by at least 18 percent, the Philippines saw the “fastest” HIV growth rate as infections in the country surged by 203 percent in the same period.

UNAIDS country director Louie Ocampo said that among the factors behind the continued rise of HIV cases was the lack of access of key vulnerable populations to contraceptives like condoms. HIV testing and treatment also remain wanting.

The post Some 20% of new HIV cases found to have AIDS appeared first on MyMedicPlus.