April 21, 1997
A total of 45 persons were found to be positive for the HIV antibody test in the first quarter this year, bringing the cumulative total number of reported HIV infections to 821. The number of new HIV infections reported in the first quarter is the highest ever received in a single quarter since the surveillance system was established in 1984. Eighteen AIDS cases were reported in the same period leading to a total number of 263 confirmed cases. Heterosexual contact remains the major route of transmission, accounting for 69% and 62% of the sexually acquired cases in the first quarter and the cumulative total respectively. A significant proportion of the reported cases are diagnosed in symptomatic AIDS patients. Of the 18 AIDS cases reported in the first quarter, 15 (83.3%) are new HIV infection reported in the same quarter. The proportion of HIV infection found at AIDS diagnosis were 64.7% and 46.2% in the last quarter of 1996 and the first quarter last year. Of the 821 HIV-infected, 414 acquired the infection through heterosexual and 252 through homosexual or bisexual sex; 16 were injecting drug users; four were mother-to-child transmission around the time of birth; and 66 acquired the infection through contaminated blood or blood products before 1985 when HIV antibody test and safe heat treated clotting concentrates were not available. As for the remaining 69, the information available was inadequate for classification.