The province of Iloilo logged more than 200 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases in the first nine months of 2024.
From January to September this year, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) recorded a total of 223 cases of HIV.
PHO identified Pavia, Santa Barbara, Barotac Nuevo, Calinog, Oton, and Pototan as HIV “hotspots” as cases continue to increase in these towns.
Ninety-six percent of those affected in the province were males and 61 percent of them contracted through unprotected sex, with men having sex with other men as the predominant type of sexual transmission.
Almost, or 49 percent, of the cases belonged to the 25-34 age group; 31 percent were from the ages of 15 to 34; and 17 percent were 35 to 29 years old.
HIV, according to the Department of Health (DOH), is a “viral infection that attacks and slowly destroys the immune system.”
This virus is transmitted through sexual contact, blood transfusion, and pregnancy (from mother to child).
If left untreated, HIV can lead to the more severe condition known as AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).
Based on data from DOH-6, Iloilo province registered the highest number of HIV cases from 1986 to September this year at 1,990.
Negros Occidental came in second with 1,664 cases, followed by Iloilo City (1,593), Bacolod City (1,880), Capiz (814), Aklan (684), Antique (507), and Guimaras (175).
To stop the spread of HIV, DOH-6 urged the public to get tested for the viral infection.
“The concern we have for that is if people do not know their status, they could be infecting others unknowingly, and because they don’t know their status, they will end up in our hospitals sick,” said Joseph Carlo Carillo of DOH-6’s Infectious Diseases Cluster.
“It is important that we know our status, early diagnosis [and] early treatment equals better health outcomes so that we don’t fall toward opportunistic infections, and that would also reduce deaths among people living with HIV,” he added. IMT
