H
TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1992
THREE MORE AIDS CASES CONFIRMED
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FOR THE HIV INFECTED
SEVEN MORE PERSONS WERE FOUND TO BE POSITIVE ANTIBODY TEST LAST MONTH (JULY), BRINGING THE NUMBER OF HIV PERSONS IN HONG KONG TO 304.
REVIEWING THE LATEST AIDS SITUATION AT A MONTHLY MEDIA SESSION THIS (TUESDAY) AFTERNOON, THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH'S CONSULTANT PHYSICIAN (SPECIAL PREVENTIVE PROGRAMME), DR S S LEE, SAID THREE OF THE NEW HIV INFECTED BATCH HAD ALSO BEEN CONFIRMED AS AIDS PATIENTS DURING THE MONTH.
HOWEVER, ONE PREVIOUSLY DIAGNOSED AIDS PATIENT DIED IN THE SAME MONTH, HE SAID.
THIS BRINGS TO 66 CONFIRMED AIDS CASES WITH 41 DEATHS. THE 25 OTHERS ARE EITHER UNDER COUNSELLING AND TREATMENT OR HAVE LEFT THE TERRITORY.
OF THE 304 HIV INFECTED, 60 WERE HAEMOPHILIACS, 207 ACQUIRED THE INFECTION SEXUALLY, SIX WERE DRUG ABUSERS AND THREE ACQUIRED THE INFECTION THROUGH BLOOD TRANSFUSION BEFORE 1985 WHEN ANTI-HIV SCREENING TEST WAS NOT AVAILABLE.
FOR THE REMAINING 28, THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE WAS FOR CLASSIFICATION.
UNDER THE HIV SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMME WHICH STARTED IN TOTAL OF 242,957 BLOOD SPECIMENS HAVE BEEN TESTED FOR ANTIBODY,
INADEQUATE
1985,
A
THE HIV
THE HONG KONG RED CROSS BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICE (HKRCBTS) HAS ALSO SCREENED ALL BLOOD DONORS FOR AIDS.
UP TO LAST MONTH, 1,111,403 UNITS OF BLOOD HAD BEEN TESTED AND 26 DONORS WERE FOUND POSITIVE.
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OF THE
ALSO SPEAKING TO MEDIA MEMBERS THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR HKRCBTS, DR CK LIN, EXPRESSED CONCERN OVER THE INCREASED NUMBER OF ANTI-HIV POSITIVE DONORS SCREENED LAST MONTth,
DR LIN SAID IN PREVIOUS YEARS, UP TO FOUR DONORS A YEAR WERE FOUND TO BE ANTI-HIV POSITIVE,
"HOWEVER, DURING THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 1992, 102,929 UNITS OF DONATED BLOOD RECEIVED, A TOTAL OF NINE FOUND TO BE ANTI-HIV POSITIVE,
HE SAID.
OUT OF THE DONORS WERE
HE STRESSED THAT THE HKRCBTS AIMED AT COLLECTING AND ISSUING SAFE BLOOD. BLOOD UNITS WERE ROUTINELY SCREENED AND WHEN FOUND TO BE CONTAMINATED WERE DESTROYED.
"THERE WAS A POSSIBILITY THAT THE INFECTION MIGHT NOT BE DETECTED BY THE EXISTING SCREENING TEST ESPECIALLY IN THE FIRST THREE MONTHS AFTER CONTRACTION OF THE DISEASE, HE SAID.
HE THUS URGED THOSE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC, WHO ARE AT RISK OF INFECTION, NOT TO COME FORWARD TO DONATE BLOOD.
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