Newborns can be now screened for HIV. Earlier, one had to wait for two years after the birth of a baby to screen for HIV.
Newborns can be now screened for HIV. Earlier, one had to wait for two years after the birth of a baby to screen for HIV.
Currently, there are seven centres in India screening newborns for HIV. The only such centre in Bangalore is at National Institute of Mental Health And Neuro Sciences (Nimhans). Between March 2010 and January 2011, 2,098 newborns have been screened for HIV at Nimhans and about 10% of them have tested positive.
Babies who tested positive were born to positive mothers, said Dr V Ravi, registrar, professor and head, department of neurovirology, National AIDS Reference Laboratory, Nimhans, on the occasion of Science Day at Bangalore University.
Incidents of HIV is highest in South Africa, followed by South-East Asia including India. Dr Ravi said, “There are about 2.2 million to 2.5 million HIV positive population in India. However, since 2002, the prevalence of HIV is coming down with the infection rate reducing from 2.7 million to 2.27 million. Sex workers, people with sexually transmitted diseases and homosexuals are prone to infection.”
“In India, prevalence of HIV is high among south Indian states. About 22% of HIV affected people are from Andhra Pradesh, 11% from Karnataka, 20% from Maharashtra and 10% from Tamil Nadu. The remaining 37% are spread across India. “As of now about 4% of the HIV affected population in India are children,” said Dr Ravi.
Dr Ravi said that anti retroviral therapy (ART) is the available treatment. “ART is provided free at 290 centres across India. About four lakh people are availing ART for lifetime in India,” he said. However, with a few of the affected developing resistance to ART, a second line treatment is taking over.
The National Aids Control Programme (Naco) spends about ¤1,200 crore on Aids prevention. However, this disease can be avoided by following simple principles. “Fostering healthy sexual relations, using condom, delaying sexual intercourse, taking prompt treatment for any sexually transmitted disease and screening blood donors can solve this problem to a great extent,” he said.
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