Eighty-six persons including eighteen women are reported to be HIV positive in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan Baluchistan, reported Iranian News Agency (IRNA), citing a university chancellor on Thursday.
Mohammad Taqi Hosseini Tabatabaei told IRNA that twenty-six of the HIV-infected live in the same city.
He added that thirty-eight of them contracted AIDS through sexual intercourse.
The expert noted that 12 HIV-infected people died in the same province over the past five years.
IRNA cited the Ministry of Health as estimating the number of HIV carriers in Iran at some 10,000, while other official statistics say there are 2,207 registered cases of HIV-positives.
A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) says that an estimated 5.3 million people worldwide were HIV positives last year, 90 percent of them in developing countries, particularly in Africa – Albawba.com
