AIDS is easily forgotten in pandemic times.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by an entirely different kind of virus that is familiar these days, the virus that causes COVID-19.
AIDS is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It can affect the mouth and throat and overall oral health.
The HIV virus is sexually transmitted or it may spread by contact with infected blood or from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breast-feeding.
While it may take years before HIV weakens the immune system, when it does it can potentially threaten the life of an infected person.
The HIV impairs the immune system, compromising the body’s ability to fight infections and diseases. This is why HIV infection worsens the condition of a person with COVID-19.
There’s no cure for HIV/AIDS but there are medications that slow down the progress of the disease.
There are 81,000 to 110,000 Filipino adults and children living with HIV, according to a 2019 estimate of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
UNAIDS estimates that only 67 percent of Filipinos living with HIV know they are infected with the potentially fatal disease. Knowing one has HIV is important so that the progress of the disease is slowed down by medication.
The Philippines is facing the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the Western Pacific, with a 174 percent increase in HIV incidence between 2010 and 2017, according to a study published in February 2019 in The Lancet medical journal.
Although national HIV prevalence remains below 1 percent, men having sex with men are disproportionately affected, accounting for more than eight in 10 of all new infections, according to the study conducted by Louie Mar A. Gangcuangco of the Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology, and Hawaii Center for AIDS, John A Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii.
A UNAIDS report on the global HIV epidemic states that the number of new AIDS infections in the Philippines has more than doubled in the six years from 2010 to 2016, from 4,300 to 10,500.
While the Philippines has controlled the HIV epidemic among female sex workers, the country noted a shift in the epidemic in 2007, notably among males who have sex with males, then persons who inject drugs.
Philippine data showed that in 2016, 83 percent of newly reported HIV cases occurred among Males who have Sex with Males (MSM) and Transgender Women who have sex with males (TGW). Majority of the new infections are occurring among 15- to 24-year-old MSM and TGW.
In 2015, only 35 percent of 15- to 24-year-old MSM and TGW had correct knowledge on HIV transmission and prevention.
It shows the need for HIV information to encourage behavioral change among people at risk of infection.
Effective information has resulted in condom use among MSM and TGW increasing from 36 percent in 2011 to 50 percent in 2015. However, it is still below the 80 percent target.
The Department of Health (DOH) has opened clinics for males who have sex with males and transgender women in 117 cities where eight in 10 of new infections occur.
These ‘’Sundown Clinics’’ are open in the evening hours for working people and is a one-stop shop that provides prevention, counseling, laboratory work-up and treatment services.
The DOH provides antiretroviral medicine for free to anyone who tests positive for HIV.
***
Dr. Joseph D. Lim is the former Associate Dean of the UE College of Dentistry, former Dean of the College of Dentistry, National University, past president and honorary fellow of the Asian Oral Implant Academy, and honorary fellow of the Japan College of Oral Implantologists. Honorary Life Member of Thai Association of Dental Implantology. For questions on dental health, e-mail jdlim2008@gmail.com or text 0917-8591515./PN
