AIDS threat grips Ganjam

BERHAMPUR, DEC 21: The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AIDS bomb is fast ticking away in southern Orissa. According to reports, Ganjam district has the highest number of HIV positive cases in the state.

According to sources in the Red Cross Blood Bank in Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati Medical College and Hospital, about three per cent of the blood samples collected for testing between 1994 and October 1999, are HIV positive. They said that 6,000 blood samples were sent to Calcutta for the confirmatory Western Blot Test. Of them, about 250 samples were HIV positive. Most HIV positive cases carry the HIV-I strain virus while the other 12 carry the HIV-II strain, they said. This is only the tip of the iceberg, said social activist Suresh Panda. Many carrying the virus may not know about it until they develop full-blown AIDS symptoms.