West Tripura (Tripura) [India], July 6 (HBTV): As many as forty-seven students died from HIV in Tripura, and 828 have tested HIV-positive, according to a senior official of the Tripura State AIDS Control Society (TSACS). 

"We have so far registered 828 students who are HIV positive. Out of them, 572 students are still alive and we have lost 47 people due to the dreaded infection. Many of the students have migrated out of Tripura for higher studies in coveted institutions across the country," a senior official of the TSACS said. 

Tripura AIDS Control Society has identified students from as many as 220 schools and 24 colleges and universities who take intravenous drugs. Not only this, recent data shows that almost every day, five to seven new cases of HIV are being detected, a senior official of TSACS has said.

Addressing a media workshop organized jointly by the Tripura Journalist Union, Web Media Forum, and the TSACS, an official of the TSACS gave a statistics of the overall scenario of HIV in Tripura. 

"So far, 220 schools and 24 colleges and universities have been identified where students are found to be addicted to intravenous drug abuse. We have collected the data from a total of 164 health facilities across the state. Reports are collected from almost all the blocks and subdivisions before making this presentation," the official said.

On the total number of active cases in the state, the TSACS said, ‘Till May 2024, the authorities have registered 8,729 people in the ART (Antiretroviral Therapy) centres. The total number of people who are alive with HIV is 5,674. Among them, 4,570 are males, while 1,103 are females. Only one patient among them is a transgender."  

Attributing the spike in HIV cases to the use of intravenous drug abuse and in most of the cases, the affected are children belong to affluent families.          

(ANI) This is a syndicated news feed. HBTV has edited it for clarity.