Study: HIV cases steadily increasing
in South Korea for past five years
By Jim Lea, Osan bureau chief
Some 240 new cases of HIV, a precursor to AIDS, were diagnosed in
South Korea in the first seven months of 2001, according to a report given to the National
Assembly last week.
That brings the total number since the virus first was reported in
the country in 1985 to 1,520. There have been no reported cases of HIV among U.S. military
personnel in South Korea in several years.
A spokesman for the National Health Institute, an agency of the
Health and Welfare Ministry, said the number of HIV cases reported from January through
the end of July was 21 higher than all of last year.
He added that the number of cases reported annually has been
increasing steadily for the past five years.
The number of cases diagnosed in 1994 was 88, he said.
In 1997, there were 124 cases reported, 129 in 1998, 186 in 1999 and
219 last year.
About a third of the total number have developed AIDS, and about 20
people have died of the disease.
Recent news reports have said surveys among high school students show
that as many as 17 percent are sexually active.
The institute spokesman said 23 of the people diagnosed with HIV this
year were teenagers.
When HIV first appeared in South Korea in 1985, many Koreans believed
it was introduced either in tainted blood used in transfusions or by U.S. military
personnel who had relations with Korean prostitutes.
Since the mid-1980s, however, U.S. servicemen and women who are
assigned overseas are screened for HIV before they leave the United States. If the tests
are positive, they are not sent.
Those who do come overseas are tested periodically and any whose
tests are positive are sent home immediately.
The health institute spokesman said test procedures for blood used in
transfusions have improved markedly and cases of people contracting HIV through
transfusions now are rare.
Of the 1,206 cases of in which the source of the virus was
determined, he said, 97 percent were infected through sexual contact.
He said four cases of HIV were diagnosed in members of the South
Korean military this year. One was diagnosed last year, he said.
All HIV and AIDS sufferers in the country are put under the care of
the Health and Welfare Ministry for treatment.
Bae Gi-chul contributed to this report.
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