AEGiS-Reuters: (RE) AIDS spreading rapidly in Vietnam

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

(RE) AIDS spreading rapidly in Vietnam

Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 23 Nov 1995

HANOI (Reuter) - Vietnam said Thursday that the human-immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was spreading rapidly through the southeast Asian country and the number of death from the AIDS disease had risen sharply in the past three months.

A total of 64 more deaths from acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), thought to be caused by the virus, and 241 more HIV cases, had been reported since the end of August, an official of the National AIDS Protection Committee (NAPC) said.

Vietnam has so far confirmed that 293 people suffered from AIDS, of whom 134 died. The number of confirmed AIDS deaths stood at just 70 in late August.

"Confirmed HIV carriers now total 3,241 people in Vietnam," an NAPC official told Reuters. "HIV has been detected in 38 of the 53 provinces and cities."

He said the NAPC expected the number of confirmed HIV cases in Vietnam to rise to between 3,500 and 4,000 by the end of the year. Just 3,000 people had been confirmed with HIV in August.

Vietnam has recently embarked on an ambitious AIDS awareness program, with street posters and banners and daily television advertisements giving advice on safe sex.

The United Nations Development Program has pledged $1.0 million to help Vietnam fight the disease following World Health Organization warnings that there could be as many as 570,000 people infected with HIV or with AIDS by 1998.

AIDS, which kills by destroying the body's immune system, is spread by exchanges of bodily fluids during sex, intravenous drug injection or blood transfusions.

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