KULOB, July 19, 2008, Asia-Plus — The first case of HIV has been reported in Khatlon’s Shuroobod district, according to Kulob AIDS Center # 2.
“Young woman from Shuroobod has been tested positive for HIV,” said the source. “She was taken to the center by her husband who recently returned from Russia, where he has worked as labor migrant. Unfortunately, he did not wait for the test results and went to Russia for seasonal work again.”
Thus, Shuroobod is the eighth of 10 districts in the Kulob region of Khatlon, where HIV-infection cases have been officially confirmed.
As of July 1, 2008, an estimated 155 people, including 135 men and three children under 15, has lived with HIV in the Kulob region, according to Kulob AIDS Center # 2. The source noted that injecting drug users constitute some 60 percent of the total number of HIV sufferers in Kulob.
He added that the largest number of HIV sufferers had been registered in the city of Kulob – 119 people. “Vose district has seven officially registered HIV sufferers, Kulob district – six, Hamadoni – four, Farkhor and Muminobod – three each, Danghara – two, and Temourmalik and Shuroobod – one each,” the source said.
No cases of HIV-infection have been registered in the Baljuvon and Khovaling districts so far.
In the Kulob region, the HIV-infection cases have been registered since 2003. Since 2003, 25 HIV sufferers have died in the region. Eleven persons, nine in the city of Kulob and two in the Vose district, currently undergo antiretroviral therapy, the source said.
