319 infections reported in Singapore

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December 1, 2016 1:18 PM

The ministry said that of these cases, 206 were reported in the first half of the year.

More than 30 years of efforts to develop an effective vaccine for HIV have not borne fruit, but for the first time since the virus was identified in 1983, scientists think they have found a promising candidate

The Ministry of Health on Thursday said 319 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections were reported among Singapore residents within 10 months of 2016.

The data was released on World AIDS Day.

It found that 94 per cent of the new cases were male, 49.5 per cent were aged between 20 and 39 years, and about 38 per cent already had late-stage HIV infection when they were diagnosed.

The ministry noted that sexual intercourse remains the main mode of HIV transmission, accounting for 94 per cent of the 206 cases.

It added that heterosexual transmission was the mode of transmission for 32 per cent of all cases, while 56 per cent were from homosexual transmission and 5 per cent from bisexual transmission.

“Around 40 per cent of the newly reported cases were detected by HIV tests done in the course of medical care’’, the ministry said.

Another 28 per cent were detected during routine programmatic HIV screening and 27 per cent were through voluntary HIV screening.

The health ministry and the Health Promotion Board urged individuals at risk of HIV infection to go for regular HIV testing, which can help diagnose an infected person at an early stage.

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