AIDS claims 171 lives in Mizoram in 20 years

AIZAWL, June 27 – Of the 437 full-blown AIDS cases in Mizoram, 171 people, including 72 women, had died in the State in the last 20 years, official sources said.

Of the 171 deaths, three deaths were reported during April and May this year, State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) officials said.

HIV infection was first detected in the State in 1990.

Describing the increasing detection of HIV positive cases as "alarming", the officials said that 126 and 101 fresh HIV positive infections were detected in April and May respectively.

"The situation is more alarming due to the fact that the main factor for the spread of the disease is through sexual contact", the officials said.

Of the total HIV positives, 1,559 males and 1,349 females were infected through sexual contact, they said.

Meanwhile, 1138 men and 230 women became HIV positive through blood transfusion as they were intravenous drug users, sharing syringes and needles while taking drugs, the officials said.

The number of people turning HIV positive due to transmission from infected mother to babies during pregnancy was 171, they said.

MSACS officials said that people belonging to 25-34 age group were the most vulnerable as of the total 4,608 infected people, 1868 people belonged to this age group.

Even younger people are not immune from HIV with 183 people below 14 years of age being infected, the officials said. – PTI