Hong Kong records 150 HIV cases in Q2

The Center for Health Protection (CHP) of Hong Kong on Tuesday reported a record of 150 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections in the second quarter of 2014, bringing the cumulative total of reported HIV infections to 6,646 since 1984.

According to the report, 82 of the 150 HIV cases acquired the infection via homosexual or bisexual contact, 24 via heterosexual contact, two through drug injection and one case via blood or blood product transfusion outside Hong Kong. The routes of transmission of the remaining 41 cases had yet to be determined due to inadequate information. The 150 cases comprised 124 males and 26 females.

Reviewing the HIV/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) situation in Hong Kong at a press conference on Tuesday, Wong Ka hing, consultant of the CHP, said that sexual transmission had remained to be the major mode of HIV transmission.

Forty new cases of AIDS were reported in this quarter, bringing to 1,497 the total number of confirmed AIDS cases reported since 1985. Fifty percent were attributed to heterosexual contact and another 40 percent were related to homosexual or bisexual contact.