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| Sunday, 26 May 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Deadly
HIV affects more than 8,000 Lankans including infants
by Don Asoka Wijewardena A recent study in Sri Lanka has revealed that about 8,700 people, including children, have been affected with the deadly Human Immune Virus (HIV). Among the victims 7,300 are males in the age group of between 15 and 49 years and women numbering 2,210 are in the age group between 15 to 50 years.The infant victims stand around 200 in the age group of between 1 and 14 years. About 132 patients have been infected with the deadly virus. Dr. I. Abeywickrema, Director National STD/AIDS Program, said that the Ministry of Health is treating only HIV infected mothers with anti-retroviral drugs to control the disease, and the government is considering treating other victims with anti-retroviral and a combination of other drugs soon. "The letters (AIDS) stand for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. If someone is infected by the virus known as HIV, the body's normal defences against illness may break down, leaving patients open to infections which would not normally have affected them. These are the ways in which the virus is passed on. Persons get infected through sexual intercourse with an already infected person or by the introduction of infected blood into the blood stream (for example using contaminated needles for drug injections)," Dr. Abeywickrema explained. Daya Abeywickrema, Executive Director of the Sri Lanka Family Planning Association, stressed the importance of providing information, counselling and education for the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS until a cure or vaccine could be found. "The number of HIV/AIDS cases is low in Sri Lanka in comparison to other countries. There will be great devastation unless effective prevention programs are implemented in Sri Lanka. It is shocking that, about 16,000 persons are infected with HIV around the world each day, and my plea is to promote condoms, which will lead to safer sex," Abeywickrema said. |
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