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Iran: AIDS rate doubles in the city of Qum
12-01-2008
Tehran, (AKI): In the past year, the incidence of AIDS has doubled in the holy Shia city of Qom, second only to the Iraqi city of Najaf in religious significance.
"The great share of the newly infected have contracted the HIV virus, not through using infected syringes, but through unprotected sexual relations," said Amir, Akbari, director of the city's health centre.
In the past year the number of those affected by AIDS in Qom has risen from 177 to 324.
Forty per cent of those infected are students from the theological colleges in Qom. In Iran, according to official estimates, there are more than 16,000 infected with AIDS in the country, while non-government organisations put the total number above 100,000.
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