HIV infections
Representative image.

A total of 48 HIV positive cases were so far detected in Udalguri district in the last eight years from 2008 till 2017.

This was informed by Dr Ganesh Brahma, the district immunization officer at Udalguri on Friday.

Informing this, Dr Brahma said that there were 36 HIV positive cases in between 2008 and 2016, out of which 21 were male and 18 were female. Among these patients, there were six death cases out of which three were female. He also informed that there were nine more cases of HIV positive detected in 2017 out of which five are male and four are female and all of them have been undergoing treatment at Guwahati.

Meanwhile, the state of Assam has witnessed an increasing rise in the case of HIV/AIDS cases. In 2016-17 Assam witnessed a rise by 2.40 per cent as compared to 1.40 per cent as it was from 2010-15.

The data recorded till October 31, 2017, stated 12737 people were detected HIV-positive in the state, out of the 12,62,601 who had been tested at integrated counselling and testing centres in the state.

Among 10,90,478 people tested in 2016, 11682 had emerged HIV positive. Similarly, there has been a rise of HIV cases among pregnant women during the last two years.

There is a high prevalence of HIV cases in Assam as it is surrounded by Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram where the percentages of HIV/AIDS cases are high.