N.z. A.i.d.s. Patients Up By 53—report (Press, 18 November 1989)

According to a report from the Medical Research Council’s A.I.D.S. epidemiology group in New Zealand, an additional 53 cases of A.I.D.S. have been reported in the year 1989. This brings the total number of notified cases since January 1984 to 154. Among these, 67 individuals are known to have died from the disease. Notably, only four of the reported cases were female. The average age at diagnosis for these sufferers was 37.5 years. When a doctor diagnoses a patient with A.I.D.S., the local health officer is alerted, and the notification is coded to ensure the individual's identity remains confidential. These coded notifications are subsequently forwarded to the A.I.D.S. epidemiology group for ongoing monitoring and surveillance. The group compiles weekly summaries and provides more detailed reports to the Health Department’s A.I.D.S. taskforce three times each month. The report clarifies that while A.I.D.S. is caused by infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (H.I.V.), the formal diagnosis of A.I.D.S. follows specific international clinical and laboratory criteria. It is important to note that H.I.V. infections themselves are not considered notifiable cases. Furthermore, the data suggests that at least 50 per cent of individuals infected with H.I.V. may not develop A.I.D.S. for up to 10 years post-infection. The information on H.I.V. cases is gathered voluntarily from the three laboratories in New Zealand that conduct H.I.V. testing.

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