Update On The HIV/AIDS Situation In Singapore 2002

22 Nov 2002

New cases of HIV infection reported this year

In the first ten months of 2002, another 189 Singaporeans were detected to be HIV infected, including two children. About 87% of the new cases detected this year were males and 13% were females. Two children were diagnosed to be HIV infected.

Sexual transmission remains the main mode of HIV transmission among Singaporeans. Of the 189 cases reported this year, almost 96% acquired the infection through the sexual route with heterosexual transmission accounting for 76% of infections, homosexual transmission 15% and bisexual transmission 5%. The remaining 4% were due to intravenous drug use (3%) and perinatal transmission (1%). Among those who acquired the infection through the sexual route, about 86% had sexual exposure to prostitutes (locally and overseas) and/or casual sex partners.

Those aged between 30 to 49 years of age accounted for about 54% of all new cases reported this year. Those aged between 50 to 59 years accounted for 18% and 20 to 29 years accounted for about 15% of new cases this year. Of the new cases, about 45% were single while about 39% were married, 12% were divorced and 4% were widowed.

Total number of HIV infected Singaporeans

This brings the total number of HIV infected Singaporeans including 17 children to 1788 as at 31 October 2002 (Table 1). Of these, 681 were asymptomatic carriers, 421 have full-blown AIDS and 686 have died.

Heterosexual transmission has been the most common mode of HIV transmission among Singaporeans since 1991 (Table 2). Most of these cases contracted the infection through casual sex and sex with prostitutes in Singapore and overseas.

The majority (1562 cases) of the HIV infected Singaporeans were males and 226 were females (Table 3) giving a sex ratio of seven males to one female. Among the males, 61% were single. For the females, however, the majority (63%) were married.

About 84% were Chinese, 7% were Malays, 5% were Indians and 4% Others (Table 4). About 20% of the HIV infected Singaporeans were working in the sales and service sector and another 18% were production craftsman and plant/machine assemblers (Table 6).

MINISTRY'S ADVICE

The Ministry would like to emphasise that the only way to avoid AIDS is to remain faithful to one's spouse and to avoid casual sex and sex with prostitutes. A HIV infected person looks and feels normal during the early stage of the infection. It is therefore not possible to tell if a person is infected or not by looking at his/her appearance.

The Ministry would also like to remind those who are at risk of being infected with the HIV virus not to donate blood. Those who are at risk of being infected are advised to see their doctors for HIV screening. All women who are pregnant are also encouraged to go for HIV screening so that measures to prevent transmission from mother to infant could be taken early for those who are found to be HIV infected. The Ministry would like to assure that the identities of persons who come forward for testing and those who are found to be HIV positive will be kept strictly confidential.

The Ministry would also like to emphasise that AIDS is not transmitted through normal day to day contacts with a HIV infected person at home, in school or at the workplace. You cannot get AIDS from coughs, sneezes, shaking hands, hugging, sharing of food and cutlery, sharing of toilets, etc. The AIDS virus has to go directly into your bloodstream before it can infect you.