HIV epidemic in Punjab.

A total of 58890 subjects were screened for HIV infection between June 1987 to December 1992. Out of these, 42776 were blood donors and only 9 were positive for HIV by ELISA; 2749 were foreign students and 35 were confirmed positive both by ELISA and Western blot. Out of the remaining high risk subjects, 141 of 13365 were confirmed to be HIV positive with a cumulative positivity rate of 10.5 per thousand. Out of the 141 confirmed sero positives, 47 had full blown disease and 25 were dead by the time of compilation of data. Thirty seven i.e., 24.6 per cent had acquired infection through unscreened blood/products/haemodialysis. Thus Punjab has shown a steady rise of HIV infection over the last five years and the incidence of blood borne infection is very high.