A total of 31,966 people tested positive for AIDS in last six years in Madhya Pradesh, according to MP AIDS Control Society.
Of the total number, 60.50 per cent constitute male and experts said men contracted HIV (Human Immunodeficiency
Virus) primarily due to unsafe sex.
Indore was among places where the spread of disease was high in the state.
“Men have fallen prey to the disease mainly due to unsafe sex practice,” city-based government Maharaja Yeswantrao hospital’s Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Department Head Dr Shivshanker Sharma told PTI today.
He said that male suffers from the disease more than female nationwide, adding that it was primarily because men
establish physical contact with multiple partners.
Dr Sharma said that drivers and others who were in professional involving extensive travelling contract HIV in a
large number. He also attributed unsafe homosexual intercourse as a key reason causing AIDS among men.
Over the years, awareness has increased among people and doctors, and it was one of the reasons that number of HIV+
patients have risen, Sharma said. Patients now, approach for treatment in early stages of the disease, he added.
According to MP AIDS Control Society, 31,966 people tested positive for AIDS out of 36,22,829 who underwent test
from 2008 to October 2014.
Of the total, a total number of 19,344 were male, 12,506 female, and 116 were from members of third gender
community. The first case of HIV came to light in 1988 in the state.
————————PTI