VIVAnews - Numbers of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrom (HIV/AIDS) patients in the Special District of Jogjakarta are 839 people, Managing Secretary of Jogjakarta AIDS Prevention Commission (KPA) A Riswanto reports.
“Thirty patients are children above 12 years old. Most of them were infected when they were born,” he said in Jogjakarta as reported by tvone on Sunday, November 29.
According to Riswanto, most mothers are not aware of being infected by the disease which disables them to prevent the transmission to their babies.
“About 60 percent of mothers, who are having the HIV/ AIDS virus, don’t realize that they have been infected and eventually they die after passing the disease to their babies,” he said.
“Most babies with HIV virus got the disease from their mothers during normal delivery when the virus spreads through the mothers’ vagina,” Riswanto added.
He also said the babies of HIV-infected mothers should been born through a cesarean section to avoid the virus transmission.
The prevention should have been done if the mothers know earlier that they have been infected by the deathly virus.
“They will receive medical treatments such as antiretroviral medications (ARV) and employ the preventing mother to child transmission program (PMTCT) during labor,” Riswanto said.
The application of PMTCT to mothers who go into labor with the status of HIV patient is mandatory.
“Most likely, mothers with AIDS don’t know that they have been infected because the information on the virus and the symptoms is lacking. The data indicates that most of the patients who didn’t realize that they’re carrying the disease are coming from the low and medium level of society,” Riswanto said.
He also pointed out that the implementation of ARV and PMTCT have become the most effective way to eliminate HIV transmission to babies. “Out of 13 cases of HIV-infected mothers who gave birth through PMTCT, only six babies were positively infected”.
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Translated by: Nataya Ermanti
