British Columbia Adds HIV to Reportable Disease List

British Columbia has made HIV a reportable communicable disease, the last Canadian province to do so. According to health officials, the move is aimed at tracking HIV more accurately and protecting the public. Although AIDS has been a reportable disease in the province since 1983, there was resistance to making HIV a reportable disease based on the sensitivity of the government having records on people and few options for care, said Dr. John Blatherwick, Vancouver's medical health officer. "Today, however, we recognize we can offer most people treatment for this disease and one of the concerns we've had over the years, we don't know there's been proper follow up. Right now it's only AIDS that's reportable, so that you're fairly well advanced if you have the AIDS syndrome and you may have infected a lot of people," said Blatherwick. He added that medical health officers will work with doctors to contact partners of HIV-positive patients without breaking patient confidentiality.

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