Uzbekistan: HIV Rate Grows Rapidly in Two Years

The number of HIV positive people in Uzbekistan has more than quadrupled since 2007.

In 2007 there were 3,169 registered cases of the virus, but as of January 1, 2009 there were 12,816, Nurmat Atabekov, the director of the National AIDS Center, said on July 2.

The virus was transmitted through dirty needles in at least 49 percent of the cases; just under a quarter of the infection rate could be attributed to sexual activity, CA-News.org quoted him as saying.

Some 76 percent of those infected are males aged between 20 and 49.

A total of 1,409 cases involve children, 512 of which were mother-to-child infections, the report added.

In November 2008, the Uzbek Ministry of Health moved swiftly to deny international media reports that 43 children in Namangan contracted HIV at a regional hospital.