VADODARA, July 26: Don't wait for the Western world to educate you on various aspects of AIDS, stressed professor J K Maniar, consulting physician in AIDS medicine, G T Hospital, Grant Medical College, Mumbai.``First they told us, AIDS happened only to homosexuals. Later, they said only those indulging in anal intercourse could be affected. Now, they are pointing out cities and countries as pockets of the dreaded disease.I think it is time, we trust and update ourselves,'' he told the gathering at a lecture `Current Scenario of AIDS in India' organised by the Vadodara chapter of the Indian Medical Association here on Sunday.Maniar, the first Asian to have detected HIV-2 in collaboration with German Virology Laboratory Collaboration, says till recently no one was aware of the virus (HIV-2), which has a longer survival rate and different routes of transmission.According to him, prevention is the best cure for AIDS as the various anti-retroviral drugs were very expensive (about Rs 26,000 per month), and did not kill the virus but only checked its spread to a certain extend. ``Safe sex and safe blood transfusion is the key to prevention,'' he observed.Basically a dermatologist and a specialist in AIDS, Maniar said he had examined more than 38,000 HIV-infected people all over the country at various institutions in Mumbai. ``Of these, more than 90.5 per cent contacted AIDS through sexual contact, 7 per cent through blood transfusion, while 2.5 per cent comprised children who got infected through their mothers, and others through other routes,'' he said.He said a large number of his patients were from various parts of Gujarat including Vadodara and Surat.Maniar, who explained various concepts of the disease through slides, said that AIDS had reached alarming proportions in India and steps needed to be taken immediately to check its further growth.Holding the medical fraternity responsible to a certain extend, he said several doctors working in government organisations are not bothered about qualitative work, unlike their counterparts in the private sector, who have to show their output. Even agencies like the Medical Council of India (MCI) have failed to live up to people's expectations.It is ironical that thought MCI chief Ketan Desai is a Gujarati, the condition of hospitals and medical colleges in Gujarat is condemnable, he regretted.According to him, 40 per cent of the sex workers diagnosed were HIV-positive in several cities of the country while Mumbai's percentage in the context was 75 per cent. He said 65 per cent of the patients indulged in hetrosexual activities in Mumbai, while elsewhere the percentage was 40.
