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Number of Russians with HIV jumps nearly 10-fold: official

Agence France Presse - November 24, 2003

MOSCOW, Nov 24 (AFP) - The number of HIV-positive Russians has increased nearly ten-fold during the past three years, a top health official said Monday.

"Only 20 per 100,000 Russians were HIV-positive in early 2000 and the rate has increased by nearly 10 times to 180 per 100,000 by November 2003," the Interfax news agency quoted Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the federal center to fight HIV/AIDS, as saying Monday.

In May Pokrovsky said that up to 1.5 million Russians may have the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, although the officially registered figure stands at some 238,000.

He said that some experts in his department estimate that deaths from AIDS may become as numerous as those from car accidents in Russia within a few years.

Most of those infected with the virus are men between 15 and 30 years of age, he said.

Pokrovsky had earlier reported that than 15 percent of Russia's HIV sufferers are in jail.

Experts have long said that Russia has one of the world's fastest growing HIV contamination rates, together with China and India.