One victim a minute catching A.I.D.S.?

Press, 6 October 1988, Page 18

One victim a minute catching A.I.D.S.?

NZPA-AP London The A.I.D.S. virus appears to be spreading at the rate of almost one victim a minute worldwide, 150,000 new cases being likely this year, says a report published recently. New Zealand had 25 A.I.D.S. cases per million inhabitants, according to “A.I.D.S. and the Third World,” a report by the Panos Institute, an independent study group with offices in London, Paris and Washington D.C. Australia had 54 cases of A.I.D.S. per one million inhabitants, the report said. The report also said an increasing number of countries were imposing A.1.D.5.-related restrictions on the entry of foreigners or citizens returning from abroad.

"World-wide, it seems likely that a new person becomes infected with the H.I.V. virus every minute,” said the 200-page report.

“During 1988, 150,000 new cases of full-blown A.I.D.S. are expected — as many as are thought to have occurred in all the years of the epidemic so far.” Dr Jonathan Mann, director of the World Health Organisation’s A.I.D.S. programme, said in Vienna that he estimated one million new A.I.D.S. cases would be reported within the next five years, a number consistent with the Panos Institute’s projections. Dr Mann said 111,000 cases had been reported to W.H.O. so far. He estimated that the total number of cases in the world was at least 250,000. Between five million and 10 million people were infected with the virus but had not yet developed A.I.D.S. A.1.D.5., acquired immune deficiency syndrome, weakens the body’s defences against disease. It is spread primarily through sexual con-

tact and through the sharing of syringes by drug addicts. In countries where blood is not screened, it also can be spread through blood transfusions. No cure has been discovered. By mid-1988, 176 countries had joined the World Health Network’s A.I.D.S. reporting network, 138 had reported cases of the disease, and 151 had established national A.I.D.S. committees, the report said.

Measured by the number of victims per million inhabitants, the report said the worst affected country was French Guiana, on the north-east coast of South America, with 113 reported cases among its 82,000 people. Of the 20 most A.1.D.5.stricken countries, 19 were African or Caribbean. Fifth on the list was the United States with 65,780 cases in a population of 243.8 million, the report says.

In Europe, Switzerland topped the list of the 20 most affected countries. By June, 1988, 29 countries had imposed A.1.D.5.related restrictions on the entry of foreigners or citizens returning from abroad — double the number for the preceding 12 months, the report said.

Those listed as having restrictions are Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Yemen, the Soviet Union, Syria, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and West Germany. Finland, Israel, Japan, Jamaica and South Korea reportedly were considering such measures, the report said.