Guwahati: Over 9,100 people in Assam have been detected with HIV positive virus at present, the state Assembly was informed on Wednesday.
Replying to a query by AIUDF MLA Swapan Kar, state Parliamentary Affairs minister Nilamani Sen Deka said the state has 9,110 people with HIV positive cases as on March 31, 2014. Deka, who replied on behalf of Health and Family Welfare minister Nazrul Islam, said Kamrup Metro district, which mostly comprise the Guwahati city, tops the list with 3,570 affected persons.
It is followed by Cachar district with 1,866 victims, he said. Some other districts with high numbers of affected people are Dibrugarh (630), Nagaon (418), Golaghat (304), Karimganj (272), Sonitpur (252), Bongaigaon (228), Karbi Anglong (207) and Jorhat (207). Deka said Chirang district does not have a single case of HIV case so far.
The districts with comparatively lower number of HIV patients are Baksa (11), Udalguri (22), Hailakandi (23), Dhemaji (39), Morigaon (50), Lakhimpur (57), Dima Hasao (59), Nalbari (65), Darrang (66), Sivasagar (70), Kamrup Rural (86) and Goalpara (93). Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Tinsukia and Dhubri districts currently have 150, 127, 124 and 114 HIV positive patients respectively.
The minister informed the House that Assam State AIDS Control Society is implementing the National AIDS Control Programme as per the Department of AIDS Control’s strategic plan to prevent spread of the disease.
Talking about Japanese Encephalitis, Deka said 122 people have lost their lives till August 6 this year across the state. “Also six persons have died this year in Malaria,” he added.
In a separate written question by AIUDF MLA Gul Akhtara Begum, Islam said a total of 1,567 persons have been affected by Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) this year till August 6.
The figure includes 606 victims of Japanese Encephalitis (JE), he said. Along with the 122 deaths in JE, 266 persons have died due to AES till date, Islam said.
There are 13 laboratories at present in 12 districts and the government plans to have facilities to detect the virus in the rest 15 districts within this month, he added.
The government also has an overall stock of 75,440 doses of JE vaccines in the state, Islam said. (PTI)
