Rajasthan: 250 AIDS patients, over 50,000 HIV positive

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250 AIDS patients, over 50,000 HIV positive in

Rajasthan.

As many as 250 AIDS patients and 50,470 HIV positive

cases have been found during the last 13 years in

Rajasthan, SMS Medical College and hospital Professor

Dinesh Mathur has said.

Also, 15-20 per cent of the state population suffers

from various skin diseases and about ten lakh such

cases are reported annually. There was no accurate

data on deaths due to AIDS in Rajasthan as such deaths

were generally concealed by relatives of such patients

due to fear of social stigma, he told media persons in

Jaipur Friday.

However, as per the data available with the Skin

Department of the SMS Hospital, about five AIDS

patients were suspected to have died during the last

one year, he added.

AIDS cases in the state were mostly reported from

among migratory industrial workers from Jhunjhunu,

Sikar and Pali in Shekhawati region, who normally went

to Mumbai, Kolkata and Madras for employment, Dr

Mathur informed.

Dr Mathur, also the organizing Chairman of Indian

Association of Dermatologists, Venreologists and

Leprologists (IADVL) Conference scheduled here for

tomorrow, said the first reported case of AIDS was of

a foreigner in Pushkar in 1987.

Globaly, 3.61 crore HIV positive cases have been

reported till now with another 15,000 such cases being

detected daily.

SMS Medical College's Skin, Veneral Diseases and

Leprosy Department head Dr N K Mathur said about 15-20

per cent population of the state was suffering from

one or the other skin disease. The hospital accounts

for ten per cent of the ten lakh such cases reported

annually in the state, he said.

He said the number of leprosy patients had remained

constant for the past two decades at the department,

ranging between 30-40 per month.

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-UNI,20th Jan 2001 11.24 IST

http://www.indiaexpress.com/news/health/20010120-0.html