THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1987
19
LATEST STATISTICS ON AIDS SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMME RELEASED
*****
ANOTHER FOUR PERSONS IN HONG KONG WERE FOUND TO HAVE BEEN INFECTED BY THE VIRUS WHICH CAUSES AIDS (ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME) DURING THE QUARTER FROM OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 1986.
THIS WAS DISCLOSED TODAY (THURSDAY) BY THE MEDICAL AND HEALTH DEPARTMENT WHEN RELEASING THE LATEST STATISTICS ON THE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMME FOR THE INFECTION,
THE FIGURES BRING TO 72 THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PERSONS DETECTED BY HIV (HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS) ANTIBODY TESTS TO BE INFECTED BY THE AIDS VIRUS IN HONG KONG,
UP TO THE END OF DECEMBER 1986, 38 312 INDIVIDUALS HAVE BEEN TESTED FOR HIV ANTIBODIES (EVIDENCE OF INFECTION BY THE AIDS VIRUS) BY THE DEPARTMENT'S VIRUS UNIT, AS PART OF THE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMME.
THE TESTS HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED ON GROUPS WHO ARE AT RISK OF BEING INFECTED BY THE VIRUS AND INCLUDE SEXUALLY PROMISCUOUS INDIVIDUALS, MULTITRANSFUSED PATIENTS AND INTRAVENOUS DRUG ABUSERS.
OF THE 72 PERSONS FOUND TO HAVE HIV ANTIBODIES, 44 WERE HAEMOPHILIACS, SEVEN WERE PATIENTS OF SOCIAL HYGIENE (SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE) CLINICS, 12 WERE REFERRALS FROM THE PRIVATE AND SUBVENTED SECTORS AND NINE WERE PATIENTS AT GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS AND CLINICS.
THE HONG KONG RED CROSS BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICE REPORTED NO NEW POSITIVE HIV ANTIBODY TESTS IN THE SAME QUARTER. A TOTAL OF 37 366 UNITS OF BLOOD WERE SCREENED DURING THE PERIOD.
SINCE THE RED CROSS STARTED ITS MANDATORY SCREENING PROGRAMME OF BLOOD DONOR UNITS FOR THE PRESENCE OF AIDS VIRUS-HIV ANTIBODIES IN AUGUST 1985, A TOTAL OF 194 076 DONOR UNITS HAVE BEEN SCREENED. THREE OF THESE WERE DETECTED TO BE POSITIVE FOR HIV ANTIBODIES.
A DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THAT THE LATEST FIGURES ON THE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMME HAD SHOWN NO SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE INCIDENCE OF AIDS VIRUS INFECTION IN HONG KONG.
OF THE FOUR PERSONS RECENTLY DETECTED TO HAVE AIDS ANTIBODIES, THREE WERE THOUGHT TO BE SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED AND THE FOURTH WAS A HAEMOPHILIAC PATIENT, WHO HAD NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY TESTED AND WAS PROBABLY INFECTED BY CONTAMINATED IMPORTED FACTOR VIII BEFORE AUGUST 1985 WHEN HEAT-TREATED BLOOD PRODUCTS WERE NOT YET AVAILABLE IN HONG KONG.
LATEST STATISTICS
Page 20Page 21