The latest report of the National Epidemiology Center revealed that there were 268 new HIV Ab Sero-positive  individuals confirmed by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory. This is a 54 percent increase compared from the same month in 2010. With this additional data from December, the total number of cases for 2011 reached 2,349.

Out of the 268 cases, nine were reported to be AIDS cases (seven males and two females). All of the cases were acquired through sexual contact. A death due to AIDS was also reported for this month.

Aside from the information above, here are some of the highlights of the report:

• 94 percent of cases were males
• The age range was 16 to 59 years and the 20 to 29 year group had the most number of cases
• 128 of the cases came from Metro Manila
• The reported modes of transmission were sexual contact (238) and needle sharing among  injecting drug  users (30)
• 8 percent of the cases were OFWs

For the full report, download it here.