Nearly 20,000 Infected With HIV in Iran: Report

Quoting health ministry data, the ISNA news agency reported on Sunday that Iran logged more than 1,000 new HIV cases since December. At least 19,435 Iranians are known to have HIV, including 1,875 who have progressed to AIDS. Males accounted for 93.3 percent of cases. By age group, the largest proportion of cases, 40.2 percent, was among persons ages 25 to 34. Intravenous drug use was the chief route of infection, resulting in 77.5 percent of cases. Sexual transmission accounted for 13.1 percent, while 0.9 percent of infections were transmitted from mother to baby. The health ministry believes Iran actually has 80,000 HIV cases. And because 60 percent of Iran?s population of nearly 71 million is under age 30, the ministry expressed concern that sexual transmission of the virus could reach epidemic levels.

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