GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Seven people here have died from HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection since early this year, health officials said.
Dr. Mely Lastimoso, coordinator of the City Health Office’s (CHO) Social Hygiene Clinic, said the patients succumbed to various disease complications triggered by full-blown AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
She said most of the victims were already suffering from the advanced stages of the disease when they submitted themselves for medical examination. “Some only came to us when they already have severe opportunistic infections,” Lastimoso said.
Lastimoso said the most common infections they recorded were tuberculosis, severe pneumonia, and others died of dehydration and related symptoms after suffering from severe diarrhea. Due to the late diagnosis, she said the patients were not able to get antiretroviral or ARV drug treatment early and already too weak then to undergo treatment.
She said an HIV/AIDS patient’s life could be prolonged through immediate ARV treatment after the initial diagnosis.
The Department of Health (DOH) provides HIV/AIDS patients with free maintenance or ARV drug treatment, which mainly stops the multiplication of the infected person’s viral load. In some countries, the use of antiretroviral drugs has helped effectively lower the incidence of HIV infection to about one percent and eventually stabilized the detected cases.
The Social Hygiene Clinic is one of the satellite treatment facilities in Region 12 accredited by the DOH. “A patient who undergoes ARV treatment becomes virally-suppressed so they can no longer infect other people,” Lastimoso said.
CHO records showed that HIV cases have already reached nearly 600, but Lastimoso believes there are many persons who are living with HIV in the area who remained untested. “The goal of the government campaign is to look for these HIV-positive individuals and subject them to ARV treatment. That way, we can stop the spread of the disease, especially among young people,” she said. (PNA, Mindanao Examiner)
20
