VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur – The Provincial Health Office recorded 24 new Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome cases in Ilocos Sur in 2016.
Ilocos Sur provincial HIV-AIDS coordinator Ross Anne Barrientos said 22 were men and two were women.
Barrientos said the dominant mode of transmission is male-to-male sex. Most of those affected were between the ages of 25 to 34 and 15 to 24.
Ilocos Sur has recorded 116 HIV-AIDS cases from 1984 to present.
It has also noticed an increase in HIV-AIDS cases since 2010. From three in 2010, it went up to five in 2011, 12 in 2012 and 2013, 19 in 2014, and 24 in 2015.
Candon City has the most number of HIV-AIDS cases with 15, followed by Vigan City, 14; Narvacan, eight; San Juan and Tagudin, seven each; Bantay, six; Sta. Cruz and Santiago, five each; and Cabugao, Galimuyod, Magsingal, and Sto. Domingo with four cases each. (Freddie G. Lazaro)
