PESHAWAR, March 25: About 276 HIV/AIDS cases have been detected in the province, doctors told a one-day workshop organized by the provincial AIDS control programme here on Tuesday.
The workshop was held with a view to apprising district and tehsil Nazims so that they could create awareness among masses about the deadly disease.
“In 70-80 per cent cases the AIDS virus is transmitted because of extramarital relations. This situation could be avoided by involving religious scholars, intellectuals and political leaders in a campaign to create awareness among people,” said Prof Dr Fazle Raziq, programme manager of the Safe Blood Transfusion Programme, NWFP.
He said out of 276 cases, 39 patients were found to have been suffering from full-blown AIDS, whereas 237 happened to be carriers of virus.
According to him, 10-20 per cent of HIV/AIDS was caused by use of unsterile syringe and unsafe blood transfusion, urging the health professionals and people to avoid administration of drugs through injections.
He said disposable syringes should be properly discarded after their single use and patients must insist on the use of new syringes at the time of being injected to ensure sterility of syringes.
Giving district-wise breakup of the HIV/AIDS, he said Kurram Agency topped the list with 42 cases, followed by Kohat (29), North Waziristan Agency (26), South Waziristan Agency (18), Bannu (16), Hangu (15), Orakzai Agency (7), Swat (9), Peshawar (9), Charsadda (6), Mardan (4), Dir (4), Swabi (3), Dera Ismail Khan (3) and Karak (1).
Besides, 18 Afghan refugees were also detected positive for HIV/AIDS at the blood screening centres operating in different districts of the province.
He said people working in the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries away from their spouse, caught AIDS virus from professional sex workers, and faced deportation after being tested positive for the HIV. The authorities in these countries did not inform the Pakistani officials about these cases which caused a rise in the number of cases.
These infected people subsequently put the lives of their life partners in danger because of lack of information about the disease.
During 1989-2002, a total of 440,375 blood donors were screened, of which 26 were tested positive for HIV, indicating the prevalence rate of 5.90 per 100,000 donors, Dr Raziq said.
According to the pathologist, out of 276 patients, the number of male was 252 as against 24 women. Similarly, he said among the infected lot, labourers were 83, drivers 41, housewives 20, infants 7, businessmen 4 and students 1. Information about the profession of the rest of 120 patients could not be ascertained.
He said people usually avoided undergoing blood tests because of the social taboos attached to the disease.
He said people were so ill-informed that they stopped shaking hands with AIDS patients fearing they would caught the virus in that way. People in villages left the place where they found HIV-positive persons.
Dr Raziq said AIDS virus could be transmitted only through blood transfusion, extramarital relations and use of infected syringes.
He urged the Nazims to create awareness among people at the grassroots level that HIV/AIDS could not be transmitted through handshake, sharing of meal, utensils and towel etc., with the patients.
As no vaccine had been developed so far for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, he said there was a great need to focus on preventive side to save people from the deadly disease.
Deputy manager of the provincial TB control programme, Dr Khawaja Laiq Ahmed said most of the HIV/AIDS patients died of tuberculosis because it destroyed their immune system, making them more vulnerable to a host of infections.