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HIV doubles in Russia
The number of registered HIV cases in Russia has doubled to more than 23,000 in less than a year, according to a UN official.
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Health ministry figures show Russia now has 23,509 registered cases of HIV, the virus that causes Aids, and 445 people have died from Aids.
But Mr Majszyk said the actual number of HIV cases is estimated to be at least five times higher.
The spread of Aids in Russia is less than in the west, but correspondents say the figures indicate an explosive growth in a country where the healthcare system is crumbling.
Drugs
Drugs and prostitution have flourished in post-Soviet Russia, and intravenous drug users now account for about 90% of new cases.
 Prostitution has boomed in post Soviet Russia |
Mr Majszyk said until recently the largest concentration of cases in Russia was in Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, where around half the prostitutes were HIV positive.
However, Moscow has now become the leading source of new HIV cases, with more than 4,000 cases reported this year, roughly one-third of the total nationwide.
Deaths
The new figures coincide with a UN report which says HIV is now growing fastest in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The number of infected people in the region rose by a third during 1999, to 360,000.
This was mainly due to an increase in the use of infected needles to inject drugs in Russia and Ukraine.
The new UN figures show more than 50 million people worldwide have now been infected with HIV and more than 16 million have died from Aids-related illnesses.
Deaths from Aids have reached a record 2.6 million in the past year and an estimated 5.6 million adults and children were infected.
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See also: | |
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 | 23 Nov 99 | Health |
| HIV hits 50 million |
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| 23 Nov 99 | Health |
| Thousands unaware they have HIV |
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| 07 Nov 99 | Aids |
| Experts tackling Asian AIDS explosion |
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| 04 Nov 99 | Aids |
| Aids up close |
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| 08 Jul 99 | Aids |
| Aids worldwide |
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