Health expert warns surge in HIV cases among Filipinos

Posted at 6:54 pm August 18, 2010

Tags: Family Health Concerns

SHARE YOUR STORIES

Got a similar Story? Share it here

See list of businesses related to Family Health Concerns

By Anna Valmero

QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA – There will be 20,000 new cases of the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV in the country over the next five years, according to a doctor at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

In a phone interview, Dr. Edsel Salvana said that the doubling rate of HIV cases in the country was reduced to only a year. For the first six months this year, there were already 809 cases, nearly equal to the 835 total cases recorded for the whole of 2009.

Since the first case in 1984, there have been more than 5,200 HIV-positive cases among Filipinos, of which 16 percent have progressed to AIDS, according to the Department of Health (DoH).

Salvana pointed out that there is an alarming increase in the doubling rate of HIV cases in the country.

“From 1996 to 2006, it took ten years for the country’s HIV cases to double from 154 to 309. Then, two years from 347 cases 2007 to 629 cases in 2009 and this year, the National Epidemiology Center projects that there will be 1,500 cases by year-end,” he explained.

“If this rate of doubling time in a year continues, then we will have at least 20,000 new HIV cases in 2015. This is very alarming considering that globally there has been a decrease of HIV cases by 17 percent between 2001 and 2008,” said Salvana.

The DoH has noted that there are at least four to five new HIV cases a day in the country, up from two cases a day in 2009 and one case a day in 2007.

About 60 percent of new HIV cases recorded are aged 20- to 29-year-old, so this has economic implications because a significant portion of the population falls within this age range.

Factors contributing to the increase in HIV positive cases include a big population susceptible to the virus and the high level of misconception about ways to prevent HIV transmission, such as using condoms during risky sexual intercourse, considering that 90 percent of new HIV transmissions were through unprotected sex, according to Salvana.

Men-having-sex-with-men (MSM) and female sex workers are the two major groups vulnerable to HIV, followed by drug users who share needles.

At present, the government offers free anti-retroviral drugs (ARV) treatment to HIV positive Filipinos. The cost of the first-line of “cocktail” drugs is $200 and the second-line of defense is $1,000 per person a year, according to health experts.

If the country will have 20,000 new HIV cases in 2015 “that would mean the government will spend P1 billion a year to buy ARV drugs for Filipinos with HIV,” said Salvana.

There is no shortage of ARV drugs in the country this time but if new cases a year peak at 20,000 by 2015, provision of the HIV treatment drugs will be “problematic and there will be insufficient health personnel to care for them,” the UP-PGH doctor said.

He added that the ARV drugs are effective in the treatment of HIV and increasing the white blood cells or CD4 (cells that attack infections in the body) back to above to normal levels of 500 to 1,000 cells.

Basketball legend Magic Johnson benefited from ARV drugs when he was diagnosed as HIV positive. An HIV patient or one with AIDS has a CD4 count below 200, which makes them susceptible to diseases like tuberculosis, Cryptococcus meningitis and Pneumocystis pneumonia.

Condom use, which is proven to be 85 percent effective in the prevention of HIV transmission, is among the methods recommended by DOH as well as abstinence, being faithful to one non-HIV positive partner, and not sharing needles.

Salvana also urged Filipinos who think they have had recent risky sexual encounters to get their blood tested for HIV, especially sex workers who are more prone to contracting the virus.

During his residency at a hospital in the United States, viral loads are also used every three months to check the virus count on patients’ blood.

“It all boils down to education because there are still a lot of misconceptions about HIV and how its transmission can be prevented. By being responsible, we are taking care of ourselves and our loved ones. Remember that once you have HIV, you have to live with it throughout your life,” he said.

Salvana said queries on HIV-AIDS can be directed to the Infectious Diseases Department of UP-PGH at (02) 5251062. A confirmatory test costs P285.