(Image: Kobiz Media)
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of new cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) totaled 1,191 in South Korea in 2017. Approximately 1 out of 3 infected individuals were in their 20s.
According to data provided by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the matter, the number of newly reported individuals in 2017 dropped 0.7 percent from the previous year.
The number of men who were reported as infected was 1,089, accounting for 91.4 percent of the infections, while 102 women were infected, which was 8.6 percent of the new cases.
Those in their 20s were the largest demographic reported in 2017 with 394 patients (33.1 percent), followed by those in their 30s (24.3 percent) and 40s (17.8 percent).
Individuals in their 20s, 30s, and 40s accounted for 75.2 percent of the total number of new cases.
Of the 1,191 infected individuals, 1,009 were Korean, while the rest were foreign nationals.
Of the 1,009 Koreans who were infected with HIV/AIDS, 753 mentioned how they had become infected, with 752 people reporting having been infected through sexual contact.
The ratio of homosexuals and heterosexuals who contracted the illness was almost the same at 48 percent (358 people) and 52 percent (394 people), respectively.
HIV is an illness that has a very prolonged window of latency during which physical symptoms do not appear.
The data reflects only cases of HIV/AIDS that were newly reported, which is not the same as the number of those who actually contracted the virus in 2017.
H. S. Seo (hsseo@koreabizwire.com)
