Health News
HIV infections in Hong Kong on the rise
Dec 1, 2009, 7:44 GMT
Hong Kong - Hong Kong has seen a surge in HIV infections with the second highest ever recorded quarterly total, health officials announced Tuesday.
The city of 7 million recorded 123 new cases of HIV between July and September, just two fewer than the highest ever quarterly figures recorded two years ago.
Dr Wong Ka-hing, a consultant with the government's Centre for Health Protection, downplayed the significance of the latest figures, released to coincide with World AIDS Day Tuesday.
'We can't over-interpret the numbers for a single quarter,' he said. 'Quarterly figures fluctuate, we have to look at the overall trend.'
Overall HIV infection levels are relatively low in Hong Kong, which has now recorded a total of 4,372 cases since the first patient was diagnosed in 1984.
In the July to September quarter, 15 new cases of AIDS were diagnosed, bringing to 1,086 the total number of confirmed cases since 1985.
Seventy-three per cent of new AIDS cases related to heterosexual contact. Of the new HIV cases, 28 acquired the infection through heterosexual contact and 46 via homosexual or bisexual contact.
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