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Ministry issues Aids pamphlet

By DELICE GAN

Would-be blood donors to be told about disease

The pamphlet...gives signs and symptoms of the disease.

A STEP has been taken to prevent the spread of Aids even before a case has been identified in Singapore.

The Health Ministry is asking all prospective blood donors to read a pamphlet containing information about the new disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, usually known as Aids, before donating blood.

The pamphlet became available from Friday at the Blood Transfusion Centre in Outram Road and at all mobile blood donation stations.

Aids is one of the four diseases listed in the pamphlet which can be transmitted through blood.

The other three are malaria, syphilis or any other type of venereal disease, and hepatitis.

A spokesman of the Blood Transfusion Centre said: “This pamphlet is really because of Aids.”

There is no laboratory test available here now to detect people with Aids. There are, however, stringent routine tests for the other infectious diseases.

Because tests for Aids are not available yet, the information in the pamphlets will allow prospective blood donors with the disease to exclude themselves.

The signs and symptoms of Aids include severe night sweats, unexplained fever, unexpected weight loss, swollen glands in the neck, armpits or groin, persistent diarrhoea or rare cancers.

Besides transmission through blood, Aids can also be spread through sexual contact, infected saliva and contaminated injection needles.

The high risk groups identified in the pamphlet were homosexuals or bisexual men with multiple partners, sexual partners of people with Aids and present or past addicts who inject drugs.

About 70,000 pamphlets are available in English and about 40,000 in Mandarin.

The Health Ministry recently set up an advisory committee on Aids which will look into ways of preventing and controlling the disease.

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This article was archived by Roy Tan.