Liz McManus
Question:129 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Health if he will give the figures for those people who are HIV positive and have full-blown AIDS; and if he will give a breakdown of the figures by route of infection and gender.
Written Answers. - Incidence of AIDS/HIV.
At present, data in respect of HIV in Ireland is based on the number of tests which has been confirmed as positive by the Virus Reference Laboratory, UCD. This monitoring shows that 1,368 samples have tested positive and the breakdown of these positive samples is as follows:—
|
Intravenous Drug Abusers |
|
|
Male |
525 |
|
Female |
169 |
|
Unknown |
14 |
|
Total Intravenous Drug Abusers |
708 |
|
Children at Risk |
90 |
|
Homosexuals |
246 |
|
Haemophiliacs |
114 |
|
Haemophiliac Contacts |
0 |
|
Hospital Staff/Occupational |
|
|
Hazard/Needlestick |
0 |
|
Transfusion |
0 |
|
Blood Donors |
18 |
|
Organ Donors |
0 |
|
Visa Requests |
1 |
|
Insurance |
0 |
|
Prisioners |
13 |
|
Hetero/Risk Unspecified |
178 |
|
Total |
1,368 |
A total of 341 cases of full-blown AIDS have been reported to my Department to date and the breakdown of these cases is as follows:
|
Homosexuals/Bisexuals |
115 |
|
IV Drug Abusers |
146 |
|
Homo/Bisexual/IVDU |
7 |
|
Haemophiliacs |
22 |
|
Heterosexuals |
36 |
|
Babies born to IV Drug Abusers |
8 |
|
Babies Born to Heterosexual Mothers |
1 |
|
Undetermined |
6 |
|
Total |
341 |
The current reporting system in respect of the incidence of HIV/AIDS does not capture data on a gender basis, save HIV positive IV drug abusers.
On the recommendation of the HIV-AIDS surveillance sub-committee of the national AIDS strategy committee it is intended to extend the anonymous surveillance programme to unlinked testing of surplus blood specimens from in-out patients in general hospitals. This programme will provide data on an age, gender and health board basis without prejudice to the confidentiality of individual cases.