Darjeeling, March 16: The myth that the Queen of the Hills is one of the few tourist spots untouched by the HIV spread, primarily because of the absence of any red-light area, has been shattered.
Authorities now believe that the absence of any specified red-light area has resulted in the increase of flying sex-workers, which has led to a spurt in HIV positive cases.
Local hospital sources said 124 people have come for the HIV test since April last year when the Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre (VCTC) became operational.
Record reveals that as many as 37 persons from the hill town alone have tested HIV positive.
This may just be the tip of the iceberg since no official data for the total number of AIDS victims in the entire hills is available. Records, though, only show the full-blown cases in either Darjeeling town or its surrounding areas.
Senior paramedics of the Darjeeling Sadar Hospital, however, maintained that the figure was not “that alarming” since most of the patients are from the high-risk groups.
“Most victims are either promiscuous or inveterate intravenous drug users. A section of the migrant population has also been affected,” sources said.
A majority of the victims is suffering from multi-drug tuberculosis, a common disease among high-altitude residents, as well. Worried over the increase in the number of HIV positive cases, the authorities are trying to create public awareness to prevent the disease from spreading at an alarming rate.
“Sewa Karjya is the only recognised local social organisation, which does a lot of work among the AIDS victims,” said a health official.
According to the authorities, the lack of a sex-workers’ colony in the hill town is the biggest problem to curb the menace.
“Darjeeling has quite a few mobile sex-workers. But it is extremely difficult to identify these high-risk group since they do not operate from any particular area,” complained another health official.
The authorities are also finding it difficult to identify the other high-risk group, the intravenous drug users, who normally maintain a “very low profile”.
