HIV diagnosis of a friend.

[Snowy79]

I just had a message from a close friend that brought things back to reality over here in the Philippines. 

As a lot of the guys that have been living here for a while know the average Filipino has a more liberal outlook to sex than most in the West. Meeting guys online or in bars and sleeping with them on the first night. Sometimes in the first few hours. 

My friend has just informed me that a girl I know has just been diagnosed with HIV. Fortunately I only know her to talk to. This girl is married with 5 kids but is still in great condition. She has been doing her fair share of sleeping around and does it at times without condoms. She's named  a couple of guys she has been with and I know for a fact one of the guys take one or two bar girls per week. To add to the problem one of the regular bar girls has also been diagnosed now. 

To my shock I was under the impression the bar girls were tested once per week. It now turns out a few are tested and if one has an STD the others are also treated, as within one week each girl will have been in contact with each other's customers indirectly. The girl I know hadn't been tested in over 3 months. 

Adding further to this a lot of the regular guys jump between Sabang and Manila where they have other partners. 

This should act as a warning to those who have no intention of settling down and jump from one partner to the next and also to those meeting new partners online. Unlike 10 years ago a lot of bar girls now prowl the dating site looking for mugs to fund their lifestyle with tales of medical issues, starving children etc in return for meeting up for a couple of weeks when the sugar daddy turns up to meet his true love. 

If you are new here or have any doubts about a partners history pop it in a bag. There's going to be a lot of guys sweating over the coming weeks. 

[KC813]

It is always a wake up call when someone you know is diagnosed HIV+, but while the number of reported HIV cases is relatively low, PI has the fasted growth rate in the region.  There were reports in the international news earlier this year of a new more dangerous strain' of the virus developing in Philippines, but WHO research says those reports were not accurate.

A Phil Star article broke down the numbers by region, but the totals strike me as pretty low.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/02/14/1787616/hivaids-cases-philippines-continue-rise

(The Philippine Star) - February 14, 2018 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The number of HIV/AIDS in the country continues to increase as the Department of Health (DOH) has documented a total of 11,103 cases in 2017, a report showed yesterday.

This brings the total number of cases to 50,725 since the DOH started documenting infections in 1984.  The figure included 5,080 AIDS cases and 2,466 deaths. 

Based on the DOH’s HIV/AIDS registry, 992 new cases of HIV/AIDS were recorded in the sentinel sites of the DOH nationwide in December 2017 alone.

This means that there were 31 new cases every day last year, up from one case in 2008, four cases in 2010, nine in 2012, 17 in 2014 and 26 in 2016. 

Based on records, the 11,103 new infections seen in 2017 is higher than the 9,264 cases reported in 2016, 7,831 in 2015, 6,011 in 2014, 4,814 in 2013 and 3,338 in 2012.

“Eighty four percent (42,360) of all the 50,725 diagnosed cases in the Philippines were reported from January 2012 to December 2017,” the DOH said.

Data also showed that in terms of age, those infected were getting younger. Between 2001 and 2005, majority of cases came from the 35 to 49 age bracket but starting from 2006, the age proportion shifted to 25 to 34.

The proportion of HIV cases in the 15 to 24 age group increased from 25 percent in 2006 to 2010 to 29 percent in 2011 to 2017.

Most of the cases came from the National Capital Region at 351, followed by Calabarzon with 147 cases, Central Luzon with 106 cases, Central Visayas with 74 cases; Western Visayas with 66 cases and Davao Region with 41 cases

[Jollygoodfellow]

20 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

To my shock I was under the impression the bar girls were tested once per week. It now turns out a few are tested and if one has an STD the others are also treated,

Even though this Expat forum is not about nightlife I will say that I think it depends on the bar owner. Years ago I knew a couple of bar owners and the girls had to produce medical certificate every week or no work. Personally I dont understand the point of being declared clean Monday morning then sleeping with someone Monday night and perhaps every night for a week when many could be spreading something in that week between the next testing. 

[Snowy79]

5 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Even though this Expat forum is not about nightlife I will say that I think it depends on the bar owner. Years ago I knew a couple of bar owners and the girls had to produce medical certificate every week or no work. Personally I dont understand the point of being declared clean Monday morning then sleeping with someone Monday night and perhaps every night for a week when many could be spreading something in that week between the next testing. 

It's certainly a grey area. When I found out the name of the bar I had expected the owner to shut up shop until evetyone had been tested and proven safe. Instead he has warned the girls that it had better not become common knowledge. 

I was even surprised the medical facility that diagnosed her never had a remit to close the bar down until everyone was proven clear, but then again prostitution is illegal here and never happens.