48 Students in Manado are Infected with HIV/AIDS

Manado, March 26 (Antara) - The National AIDS Commission (KPAP) reported that at least 48 students and college students were infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in Manado, North Sulawesi. "It could be something to do with the lifestyle or it may be promiscuity. There was a tendency to indulge in risky unprotected sexual activities. Also, they could be infected by the use of unsterile needles," Secretary of the AIDS Commission Tangel Kairupan said here on Wednesday. Tangel said everyone was vulnerable to this disease, so that necessary measures and awareness and prevention were needed. "We have seen that housewives who do not work as sex workers can also become infected with HIV. Therefore, increasing awareness through various mediums should not only be directed toward key population," Tangel said. Data from the North Sulawesi Provincial Health Office, which is listed by profession, showed that the private and self-employed had the highest incidence of the disease with 425 cases, of which 109 were HIV positive and 314 had AIDS. The profession that had the second-highest number of cases was housewives at 273, of which 134 were HIV positive and the remaining 139 suffered from AIDS. Unemployed people had the third-largest incidence with 179 cases, of which 56 were HIV positive and the remaining 123 had AIDS. Commercial sex workers were at the fourth position with only 92 cases, of which 56 were cases of HIV and 36 of AIDS, and the fifth rank was occupied by employees with 81 cases, 32 of whom were HIV and the remaining 49 suffered from AIDS. Besides these profession, sailors, ship crews, farmers, artisans, motorcycles taxi drivers, employees and civil servants, maids, security guards, prisoners, miners, national police officers and army personnel and cattle breeder were also reported to be profession whose members were infected with HIV/ AIDS. (*)