NZ Sees Record Number of New HIV Cases in 2005

NZ sees record number of new HIV cases in 2005

WELLINGTON, March 7 (Xinhua) — The number of New Zealanders diagnosed with HIV hit a record high last year, according to figures released Tuesday by a local aids institute.

Aids Epidemiology Group at Otago University said 183 people were diagnosed with HIV in 2005, the highest total for one year since records began in 1985.

The figure was a 17 percent increase on 2004, when 157 cases were diagnosed.

Of the 183 new diagnoses, 89 were through homosexual sex (up 19 percent on 2004), and 73 (35 men and 38 women) were infected heterosexually (no increase on 2004).

Six were children diagnosed with HIV through mother-to-child transmission, four of whom were born in New Zealand to mothers who had not been diagnosed with HIV, and the remaining 15 new cases were regarded as “unknown.”

New Zealand Aids Foundation board chairman Hoani Jeremy Lambert said Tuesday the figures showed that no-one in New Zealand could afford to be complacent about HIV.

He said the figures were a reminder that all New Zealanders must take responsibility for keeping themselves and their sexual partners safe, regardless of gender or sexual identity.