By MIKE U. CRISMUNDO
BUTUAN CITY – Health authorities on Tuesday disclosed the number of HIV-AIDS cases in this city has doubled in the past three years.
Anthony Torralba, city health office – health education and promotion officer (CHO-HEPO), said Butuan City is already considered Category A, meaning it is now included in 70 high-burdened areas of origin with 50% rise in infections.
The health official said the age of patients who tested HIV- positive here range from 15 to 22 years old.
He said the increase in numbers of patients could possibly be linked to lifestyle changes.
“The behavior of millennials in this generation is a possible cause that needs to be addressed to avert the spread of this dreaded disease,” Torralba said.
Meanwhile, DOH-Caraga also recently reported an increase in the number of cases of human immunodeficiency virus -Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) infection (HIV-AIDS) in the region.
The DOH-Caraga surveillance report showed 11 new HIV cases recorded June this year. This was confirmed by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory (SACCL) as reported to the HIV and AIDS Registry.
With 376 existing cases recorded since 1995, Caraga Region 13, now has a total of 387 HIV cases, with 34 reported HIV-AIDS related deaths.
The 11 cases tallied for June is considered 120% higher compared to the same period last year.
All of the patients are male with age ranging from 21 – 48 years old.
Homosexual contact is the predominant mode of transmission at 50.6%.