Number of AIDS Cases Increases in Saudi Arabia

Since health authorities in Saudi Arabia began monitoring HIV/AIDS in 1984, the Gulf state has diagnosed more than 7,800 Saudis and foreigners with the disease, the state-run Saudi Press Agency recently reported. Of the total, 1,743 were Saudi Arabians, 588 of whom have since died, said Nasser bin Saleh al-Khuzeim, head of the state's Health Control Center. Last year, officials recorded 6,787 AIDS cases, including 1,509 nationals. No reasons were given for the increase.

Of the infected Saudis, 82 percent were males ages 15-49 and 95 percent were infected sexually, said al-Khuzeim. No details were provided for the remaining 18 percent of HIV-positive Saudis.

Few details were offered on HIV/AIDS cases among non-Saudis, the bulk of those diagnosed. Foreigners testing HIV-positive are by law immediately deported. Some 6,065 of the kingdom's reported AIDS cases were believed to be among foreign nationals, with 30 percent diagnosed when they applied or renewed residence permits for the kingdom. Another 22 percent of cases among foreign nationals were diagnosed in the country's hospitals during medical treatment.

Some 50 percent of the kingdom's AIDS cases were recorded in Jiddah, with another 16 percent of cases reported in Riyadh, the press agency reported Sana Abbas, the coordinator National Program to Fight AIDS, as saying.

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