The Hindu : Karnataka News : Majority of AIDS patients in State are aged 30 to 39

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 26, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Majority of AIDS patients in State are aged 30 to 39

By T.V. Sivanandan

GULBARGA, APRIL 25. People aged 30 to 39 form a majority of the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients in the State, according to a study.

According to official statistics, 41.67 per cent of the victims identified between January 2002 and January 2004 in the State are aged 30 to 39. Men form 69.35 per cent of the victims.

Official sources told The Hindu here on Sunday that of the 68 who died of AIDS during the period, 32 were aged 30 to 39. Among them 23 were men. Of the 15,566 people infected by the Human Immuno Virus (HIV), 6,487 were aged 30 to 39. As many as 263 of the 564 fully blown AIDS cases were also in this age group.

Sources said those above 50 formed only 5.49 per cent of the HIV cases. The disease was less prevalent among children aged less than 14 and those between 15 and 19. While 3.63 per cent of the HIV cases were reported among the former, it was 1.29 per cent in the case of the latter.

The second and third high-risk groups are those aged 25 to 29 and 40 to 49, respectively. While 21.73 per cent of the cases were reported among those aged 25 to 29, it was 15.89 per cent in the case of the other group.

Among the fully blown AIDS cases, 121 were in the age group of 20-29 and 106 in the age group of 40-49. Among the deaths, 13 were in the age group of 20-29 and 12 in the age group of 40-49.

A total of 26,399 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported in the State between 1987 and January 2004. Of them, 25,056 were natives of the State and 1,343 were from those from other States and foreigners. Sources said Belgaum division comprising Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Haveri, Gadag and Uttara Kannada districts topped the list of HIV/AIDS cases with 7,698 cases followed by Bangalore division comprising Bangalore (Urban and Rural), Tumkur, Shimoga, Chitradurga, Davangere and Kolar with 7,688 cases. Mysore division comprising Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Mandya, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Kodagu, Chikmagalur and Hassan reported 5,294 cases. Gulbarga division comprising Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Bellary and Koppal districts had 4,376 cases.

Among the districts, Bangalore Urban continued to top the list with 4,809 cases, followed by Bellary with 2,362 cases, Bagalkot with 1,628, Udupi with 1,478, Dakshina Kannada with 1,349, Belgaum with 974, Bijapur with 890, and Koppal and Raichur with 672 and 650, respectively. Kodagu, the smallest district in the State, reported the lowest number of 101 cases in the State. Of the total cases, 1,918 were fully blown AIDS cases. There were 211 deaths.

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