TUESDAY AUGUST ZO, ZOrgl

HIV(ases involving drug users

*inVisayas
/ 0n the fise-lawmaker
s"' Maricelv. cruz tT$,H;iTl3::l**g
;ffi By on the philip-
A TOTAL of 2,199 drug us- pine Drug Enforcement Agency to supl
eis--2,071 males and .128 fe- press the supply side of the problem,"
males-have been reported infected Gullas said'
with HIV after sharing contaminated Nubain (Nalbuphine . hydrg-
needles, a larmaker frirn the Visayas chloride)-a powerful narcotic
anal'
region said
-Cititrg
on Monday. gesic that may be injected into a vein'
a Department of Health report, muscle or fat-first emerged in Cebu
Cebu dep. Eduardo Gullas said nearly in the early 1990s.
all, or 99 percent, of the reported cases At the time, Nubain was classified
of infection thiough needle-sharing as a "regulated_ dru-g" that could be
from January 19Sa io April 2019 weri prescribed.only by physicians special-
from Centtuivituyut. ly licensed by the Dangerous Drugs
"The growing abuse of synthetic opi- Board.
oid paini<i11ers,-particularly Nubain, is However, due to widesprea9- 4It:'
u ,riiou, health rhuil*ng*, especially in the DDB eventually reclassified Nubain
Central Visayas..The D-OH has to iind asa'odangerousdrug"in20ll,effective-
ways to address the demand side of the ly banning it. Next page

H lV cases...
From Al
Mere possession of Nubrain alnprles now
carriesa life sentence.
Citing a report from the United Nations
Office on D*gs and Crime, Gullas said
people who in$ect drugs "have- multiple
vulnerabilities to HIV hepatitis, tuberculosis
and other infectious diseases."
Around the world, the UNODC said:
. Sharing iqiecting device is at least three
times more likely to transmit HIV than
sexual intercourse;
. There has been a 33 percent increase in
'new HIV infections among people who inf ect
drugs in the last five Years;
. People who ip$ect drugs are 24 times
more likelyto acquire HIV than adultq inthe
general population;
. Some 83 percent of the people who inject
drugs andwho live withHIV are co-infected
withhepatitis C; and
. Eight percent of people who inject drugs
have TB.
HfV causes.AlDs, or tlre Acqufued Immtrne
Deficiency Syndrome, which destrqn ttre
body's natorat abih'ty to ward off all kinds of ,
''
infections. The condition still dops not have an5r
known cure, but antiretroviral tlrerapy has been'i
known to helP restrain the vinrs.
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