Bacolod City registers 7 HIV-positive persons
Bacolod City -- Bacolod City has recorded seven persons who are HIV (Human Immune Virus) positive.
Health Education and Promotion Officer Denia Hiballes said they are professional who are either married to OFWs or had worked abroad. They are not commercial sex workers (CSW), she added.
The city has also recorded three deaths confirmed to be AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) patients who died consecutively in the years 2003, 2004 and 2006. Two are gays and one a CSW.
Hiballes said the law prevents her from identifying the names and profiles of the seven patients but she is in regular contact with them when they seek counseling and referral for their medical needs.
She said a special HIV-AIDS Core Team has been formed at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Hospital (CLMMH) to specifically attend to the medical concerns of the patients.
HIV positive persons are carriers of AIDS. Manifestations of symptoms may take seven to 10 years depending on their resistance. They live normal lives and are healthy until the virus attacks their body, she said.
At present, the disease is still incurable but a medicine has been discovered that can lessen the virus.
Those who wish to undergo an HIV-AIDS test should first see Hiballes at the CHO office for counseling before they are referred to CLMMH. The process takes about two weeks to be completed because the blood samples are brought to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila.
The city is currently holding series of lectures on women reproductive health to mark the month of women. (PIA-LOL)