MICHAEL MEDINA
Editor in chief
OZAMIZ CITY--This city’s Reproductive and Tract Infection Unit (RTIU) is not taking chances in the fight against AIDS as it continue to screen commercial sex workers for sexually transmitted diseases.
AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a set of symptoms and infections resulting from the damage to the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
According to Wikipedia Online, HIV can be transmitted through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid, and breast milk.
Such transmission can involve anal, vaginal or oral sex, blood transfusion, use of contaminated hypodermic needles and the exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding.
A person with AIDS has reduced immunity in his system making him susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumors.
In 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people lived with the disease worldwide, and it killed an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children.
On the other hand, STDs are diseases that are mainly passed from one person to another during sex.
The World Health Organization estimates that 340 million new cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis occurred throughout the world in 1999 in men and women aged 15-49 years.
The largest number of new infections occurred in the region of South and Southeast Asia while infection rates and prevalence tends to be higher in urban residents, in unmarried individuals, and in young adults.
There are at least 25 different STDs known to man and many of such diseases can be easily cured, but if left untreated, they may cause unpleasant symptoms and could lead to long-term damage such as infertility.
The most common STDs are genital herpes genital warts gonorrhea, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis and persons with STDs exeperince soreness, unusual lumps or sores, itching, pain when urinating, and or an unusual discharge from the genitals.
In Ozamiz, nine commercial sex workers have been monitored and periodically screened for STDs by RTIU, coordinator Merly Silva disclosed.
These women work in registered establishments and are submitting themselves for periodic check-up for sex-related health risks and diseases voluntarily, she added.
These hostesses engage in commercial sex and are vulnerable to HIV infection and reproductive tract infections although RTIU have advised themto engage in safe sex.
But these hostesses are just a slight worry for RTIU.
A Ronda Balita report last November 2007 stated that 13 males have been examined positive of gonorrhea caused by gays who engaged in oral and anal sex.
Also, in 2005, 15 commercial sex workers held in custody by the City Health Office (CHO) after it made a search into clubhouses and prostitution dens.
All the women involved were catalogued, tested and released after they yielded negative of STDs.
RTIU medical technologist Maria Luisa Zapanta said the women never came back for their periodic checks.
A commercial sex worker interviewed by MINDANAO MONITOR for this report claims her real work is a house maid by day and a prostitute in a videoke bar at night and does the thing “for extra income.”
She said she was lured into the pospect of earning P500-P1,200 a night, adding most of his customers range from drivers to blue collar executives.
Records from DOH’s Reproductive Health and Wellness Center of the Department of Health stated 2,250 HIV cases in the country from January 1984 to March 2005.
Of this figure, 12 cases are reported in Davao City and seven out of the 12 were already dead.
OZAMIZ CITY--This city’s Reproductive and Tract Infection Unit (RTIU) is not taking chances in the fight against AIDS as it continue to screen commercial sex workers for sexually transmitted diseases.
AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a set of symptoms and infections resulting from the damage to the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
According to Wikipedia Online, HIV can be transmitted through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid, and breast milk.
Such transmission can involve anal, vaginal or oral sex, blood transfusion, use of contaminated hypodermic needles and the exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding.
A person with AIDS has reduced immunity in his system making him susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumors.
In 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people lived with the disease worldwide, and it killed an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children.
On the other hand, STDs are diseases that are mainly passed from one person to another during sex.
The World Health Organization estimates that 340 million new cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis occurred throughout the world in 1999 in men and women aged 15-49 years.
The largest number of new infections occurred in the region of South and Southeast Asia while infection rates and prevalence tends to be higher in urban residents, in unmarried individuals, and in young adults.
There are at least 25 different STDs known to man and many of such diseases can be easily cured, but if left untreated, they may cause unpleasant symptoms and could lead to long-term damage such as infertility.
The most common STDs are genital herpes genital warts gonorrhea, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis and persons with STDs exeperince soreness, unusual lumps or sores, itching, pain when urinating, and or an unusual discharge from the genitals.
In Ozamiz, nine commercial sex workers have been monitored and periodically screened for STDs by RTIU, coordinator Merly Silva disclosed.
These women work in registered establishments and are submitting themselves for periodic check-up for sex-related health risks and diseases voluntarily, she added.
These hostesses engage in commercial sex and are vulnerable to HIV infection and reproductive tract infections although RTIU have advised themto engage in safe sex.
But these hostesses are just a slight worry for RTIU.
A Ronda Balita report last November 2007 stated that 13 males have been examined positive of gonorrhea caused by gays who engaged in oral and anal sex.
Also, in 2005, 15 commercial sex workers held in custody by the City Health Office (CHO) after it made a search into clubhouses and prostitution dens.
All the women involved were catalogued, tested and released after they yielded negative of STDs.
RTIU medical technologist Maria Luisa Zapanta said the women never came back for their periodic checks.
A commercial sex worker interviewed by MINDANAO MONITOR for this report claims her real work is a house maid by day and a prostitute in a videoke bar at night and does the thing “for extra income.”
She said she was lured into the pospect of earning P500-P1,200 a night, adding most of his customers range from drivers to blue collar executives.
Records from DOH’s Reproductive Health and Wellness Center of the Department of Health stated 2,250 HIV cases in the country from January 1984 to March 2005.
Of this figure, 12 cases are reported in Davao City and seven out of the 12 were already dead.