Shocking Data: Housewives Dominates HIV/AIDS Cases

jpnn.com - MANADO – World AIDS Day, designated December 1, is around the corner. North Sulawesi provincial health office has published data of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the province. The data was quite shocking.

In the last 19 years, 1,877 cases of HIV/AIDS infection have been recorded. From that enormous number, 204 people have died of the disease which stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.

Based on the data, people with the disease were mostly at their productive ages from 20 to 29 years old with 754 cases, students or teenagers from 5 to 19 years old were recorded at 68 cases.

The Chief of North Sulawesi Health Office, dr. Jemmy Lampus, confirmed that HIV/AIDS was the most threatening infection as the cure has not been found yet. “It’s a long term disease. The infected is often able to live normal until medical symptoms appear. After a few years, it deteriorates and becomes AIDS,” he explained to Manado Pos (Jawa Pos Group).

Furthermore he explained some symptoms experienced by people positive with HIV/AIDS such as respiratory ailments, digestive disorders, rapid weight loss, and nervous system and skin problems. For women, there are reproduction problems, fungi appearances and urinary tract problems.

“For your information, deaths caused by HIV infection were not caused by the virus infection but by its effects, such as weakened immune system,” said Lampus.

The infection can spread through many ways such as syringes usage and unsafe sex but it doesn’t spread through mosquito bites or sweats. “Cases from homosexual factor were counted 94 cases, heterosexual factor were 1551 cases and bisexual factor were 3 cases. Pre-natal factor (from mothers to their fetus) were 84 cases. Syringes usage for drugs were 117 cases,” Lampus elaborated.

Based on the professions, prostitutes were not recorded with the most cases. Employees and housewives, surprisingly, dominated the cases. “Based on calculations, housewives were dominating. Our data found 361 housewives were infected. Private sector employees were about 571 cases, both men and women,” explained the former Director of Ratumbuysang Mental Health Hospital.