16 MORE CASES OF HIV REGISTERED IN ARMENIA

Armenpress
May 15 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 15, ARMENPRESS; Armenian doctors have registered this year
16 more cases of HIV, 15 of new carriers are Armenian citizens. The
overall number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Armenia, a country
with a total population of a little bit more than 3 million, by April
30, 2006 was 398, of whom 378 were Armenian citizens.

The HIV/AIDS situation assessment, however, has shown that
the estimated number of people living with HIV/AIDS is about
2,800-3000. The majority- 293- are males and there are also six
children. According to the National Center for AIDS Prevention, 125
of these people were diagnosed with AIDS. Since 1988 when the first
case of HIV was registered in Armenia, 83 people died of HIV/IDS,
including 14 women and two children.

Unemployment, labor migration and the rapid growth of HIV rates
in the region contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS in Armenia. The
majority of HIV/AIDS carriers are in their 20s. Most infection comes
about through the intravenous injection of drugs – 53.6 percent –
and through heterosexual contacts – 38.2 percent.

Those who were infected by drug injection were all men, some of who
had worked or studied in Russia and Ukraine.