Kerala has over 55,000 HIV infected

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - A total of 55,167 people in Kerala have been infected by HIV/AIDS, according to the Kerala State Aids Control Society (KSACS).

Addressing reporters here, Health Secretary Manoj Joshi said that as of October 2009 a total of 11,024 HIV positive people had registered with the Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) centres run by KSACS.

“Of these 4,016 people are undergoing the ART treatment and 950 people have passed away. HIV prevalence rate in the general population is 0.26 percent, which is less than the national average of 0.34 percent,” said Joshi.

He said this while announcing the arrival of the Red Ribbon Express in the state Feb 23. It would travel to various districts till March 12.

As of June 30 last year, Palakkad district had the highest number of victims (1,650) followed by Trissur (1,449) and Thiruvananthapuram (1,267) while Wayanad had the least number of cases — 142.

–Indo Asian News Service