More than the debilitating effects of the disease itself, patients who take their own lives are often unable to cope with the horror of having contracted the disease, experts reveal.

An Indian Health Organisation (IHO) report revealed five HIV-infected patients under their treatment committed suicide during the week. Kishor Vedak was the first to hang himself in the early hours of December 1. A 27-year-old Ratnagiri resident committed suicide on December 4. He was to get married three days later.

A 29-year-old hotelier from central Mumbai killed himself on the night ofDecember 5 after attending to the day's work. A married woman from Rajasthan, who was being treated at a clinic at Grant Road, ended her life by jumping into a well, and a man who was being treated for tubeculosis after having contracted the HIV virus committed suicide on December 6.

According to IHO secretary general Dr I S Gilada, the organisation's `Helpline' has received at least five calls from the homes of those victims who committed suicide during AIDS week, demanding to know if the house should be fumigated after the death of a HIV-infected family member. ``Other questions were: Should the body be wrapped in a plastic bag before being cremated? Is it all right to keep the dead in the house for a long time?'' Gilada added.

``IHO figures could only be the tip of the iceberg. Most HIV-related deaths could have gone unnoticed because to a layman the cause might seem to be tuberculosis, dysentry or a host of common diseases,'' Dr Gilada pointed out. ``But it doesn't imply that all those in the sexuallyactive age group of 20 to 40 who committed suicide in the last few days were HIV positive,'' he said.

Dr J K Maniar, consultant, Skin and VD department at GT Hospital, said a high-profile awareness campaign during a particular week creates mental restlessness among HIV-infected patients. There is an alarming rise in upset patients calling up the doctor for counselling.

According to Dr Maniar, most of the campaigners know little about AIDS and few have ever interacted with an HIV-positive person. Inadequate knowledge about the patient's psyche adds to the problem, Maniar added.

Studies have revealed that an estimated one per cent of the country's population of 955 million is HIV infected, 2.5 to 4 per cent of the city's 15 million population is hit by the disease and the prevalent rate among pregnant women is about four per cent.