Manama: Around 90 per cent of the 214 Kuwaiti Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive cases at a Kuwaiti hospital had contracted the disease in a Gulf country.
The local Arabic daily Al Rai said Dr Jamal Al Duaij, the head of the Infectious Diseases Hospital, did not name the Gulf country.
Most of the remaining Kuwaiti patients undergoing treatment got the disease in Far East countries while the non-Kuwaitis treated by the hospital contracted it from foreigners in the Jleeb area where expatriate workers from South Asia and Arab countries tend to congregate.
Foreigners are treated at the hospital until their condition stabilises but are afterwards deported to their home countries.
HIV weakens the immune system and, if no treatment is provided, leads most infected people to develop Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Medical experts say that the most common ways for people to become infected with HIV are through having unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected partner and through injecting drugs, using an unsterilised needle or syringe that has been used by someone who is infected.
Dr Jamal added that for around 70 per cent of the patients treated by the hospital, the disease was transmitted through illicit sexual activities.
However, the figure could be higher as many of the remaining 30 per cent did not wish to be specific about how they got HIV/AIDS and claimed that it was the consequence of a transplant or blood transfusion.
Kuwaiti media reported that an average of two HIV/AIDS cases are discovered every two months through premarital tests and tests carried out before employment.
“The most significant and fundamental solution for avoiding the disease is not to engage in illegitimate sexual activities,” Dr Jamal said. “The state provides numerous solutions and opportunities for marriages and the facilities here in Kuwait are abundant.”
