KULOB, August 26, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- 23 new cases of HIV infection that have been detected in the city of Kulob and three districts of Khatlon’s Kulob zone – Temourmalik, Muminobod and Danghara – since the beginning of this year have brought the total number of HIV sufferers in the area to 202, Amirkhon Ismoilov, the head of the epidemiology department with the Kulob AIDS Center, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

“Of those 23 new cases, 20 have been detected in the city of Kulob and one case has been reported in each of three mentioned districts,” Ismoilov said.

According to him, 20 HIV sufferers detected this year are injecting drug users (IDUs) and three others contracted the infection through sexual contacts.

In the meantime, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that HIV/AIS cases are on the rise in northern Tajikistan as well.

A northern Tajik province is reporting a large increase in the number of new cases of HIV this year, RFE/RL''s Tajik Service reported on August 25.

Said Bobojonov, chief doctor at an epidemic center in Sughd province, has said that 19 women and a child are among the 53 new cases of people registered as having HIV/AIDS in the first seven months of this year.  Bobojonov said this is a large increase to the 350 previous cases of people registered as having HIV/AIDS in the region.

An AIDS/HIV center was established in Khujand with the help of international organizations to treat patients.

Former convict Vasily Gizbrekht, who has been diagnosed as HIV-positive, told RFE/RL that he contracted the virus while using his cellmate''s razor in a Khujand prison nine years ago.  He says his relatives abandoned him after they learned about his disease. After years of living on the streets he says he now works at the Khujand center.