Introduction

HIV infection is one of the deadliest disease mankind has ever faced. HIV was reported first from USA in 1981. Intense research culminated into discovery of the causative virus HIV - 1 in 1983 and of HIV - 2 in 1984. In India, HIV was first reported in 1986 from Madras and first case of AIDS in 1986 from Mumbai.

Statistics

World over 30 - 40 million people are expected to be infected with HIV. 20 - 30% of them are women and 10 - 15% children. Sub - Saharan African countries account for the maximum number of cases and contribute 60 -70 % of total cases in world. Next is Asia sub - continent, which contributes 5 - 6 million cases, of which 80% are in India alone.

In India the official figures quoted in 1999 were 0.3 million HIV infected people and 68,000 cases of AIDS. Unofficially it is estimated that 4 - 5 million people are infected with HIV in India. Studies have shown the sero-prevalence to be 1 - 2% in non - professional walk - in donors in some reputed blood banks in Mumbai and 1.8 - 4% in pregnant ladies attending antenatal clinics of some major general hospitals of Mumbai catering to non -high risk population. All this appears to be the reflection of prevalence in general population estimated to be 0.5%. The prevalence of HIV infection in commercial sex workers in Mumbai has risen from 55% in 1998 to 85% in 1999. There are estimated 0.1 million female sex workers (FSW) working in the established areas for such activities in Mumbai.

It is estimated that almost 10,000 people will die of HIV every day, for some time, in India by next 10 - 15 years. Equal number of children will become destitute, as they would lose either one or both parents. We will need 6 times more beds to treat these HIV infected people. World over HIV threatens to kill more than 30 - 40 million infected people. At present one person dies of HIV every 3 - 4 minutes world over.