According to a report released August  27 from the Hong Kong Center for Health Protection (CHP), a record 150 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections were recorded in the city in the second quarter of 2014. The finding equals a viral "spike."

The new numbers create a cumulative total of reported HIV infections to 6,646 since the virus first struck Hong Kong in 1984.

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Dr. Wong Ka-hing, the Center's head Consultant for the CHP, said in a press conference that sexual transmission had remained the major mode of HIV transmission. 

In the report are a number of statistics designed to gauge the progress of the HIV pandemic in Hong Kong. Of the 150 HIV cases reported in this quarter, 82 acquired the infection via homosexual or bisexual contact, 24 via heterosexual contact, two through drug injection, and one case via blood or blood product transfusion outside the territory. The routes of transmission of the remaining 41 cases had yet to be determined due to inadequate information. The 150 cases comprised 124 males and 26 females.

The newly diagnosed cases of the second quarter of 2014 were mainly reported through typical venues: Public hospitals and clinics (amounting to 49 cases), private hospitals and clinics (29 cases), and the Hong Kong Department of Health's AIDS Unit (24 cases). 

Forty new cases of AIDS were reported in this quarter, bringing to the total number of confirmed AIDS cases reported since 1985 to 1,497. Fifty percent were attributed to heterosexual contact and another 40 percent were related to homosexual or bisexual contact.  Of the newly reported cases, 103 of them (69 percent) had already received HIV specialist services at the Department of Health or the Hong Kong Hospital Authority. 

The report does not show why the HIV rates experienced a sudden rise. According to statistics from 2012, there are an estimated 780,000 people in China living with HIV/AIDS. While the perception of the virus is that it is still a "gay disease," there is evidence to show that HIV has jumped into the general population, and that the majority of infections in the country now occur via heterosexual encounters. 

TagsHong Kong, HIV, AIDS