HIV infections are rising alarmingly in Bogura. Over the past 19 months, 93 people have tested positive for HIV, about 87% of them men. Nine people have died in the same period, including three in the first seven months of this year alone. Doctors say risky sexual behavior, among other factors, is driving the rise in infections.
According to the HIV Testing and Counseling (HTC) Center at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College (Shajimec) Hospital, 93 of the 2,164 people tested over the past 19 months were found HIV-positive — 81 men, 10 women and two transgender people. Of these, 92 were from Bogura district and one from another district. In the same period, 597 people registered on suspicion of HIV.
Health officials say HIV can spread through unprotected and risky sexual contact, sex between men, transmission via sex workers, unsafe blood transfusions, and sharing used needles and syringes.
The HTC center at Shajimec Hospital sees an average of 10 to 15 people come in for HIV testing daily. Those who test positive receive immediate counseling and free medication as needed.
Significant number of young patients
Shajimec Hospital principal Professor Wadudul Tarafder Nahid said a significant proportion of those infected are young and of working age. He said risky sexual behavior and unprotected sex, among other factors, are raising infection risk, and that HIV testing is also important for people undergoing treatment at drug rehabilitation centers as well as surgical patients.
Over a week, several people of various ages were seen waiting for HIV tests at the Shajimec HTC center, including a couple from Naogaon’s Nazipur. HIV has also been detected in several people undergoing drug treatment.
9 deaths in seven years
Further details on the infection emerged at an HIV seminar organized by the Ahsania Mission at the district civil surgeon’s office on Aug. 20.
The seminar heard that 4,052 people in Bogura were tested for HIV over the seven years from 2019 to this year. In the first seven months of 2026 alone, 1,794 people were tested, with 25 found positive and one death recorded. A total of nine deaths have occurred over the seven-year period.
Abdus Salam, a counselor at the Shajimec HTC center, said many patients suffer psychological distress after testing HIV-positive.
Dr. Sultan Ibne Sayeed, a physician at the HTC center, said unprotected and risky sexual contact is a leading cause of HIV transmission, spreading between men and women as well as between men. He said infection can also pass from an infected mother to her child during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.
Focus on awareness
Doctors, officials from the Department of Narcotics Control and administration say widespread public awareness campaigns on HIV are essential. They say infections can be controlled by quickly identifying and bringing patients under treatment and counseling, while stressing the importance of regular testing for at-risk populations.