DUSHANBE, January 21, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- 1,004 new cases of HIV infection were detected in Tajikistan last year, according to the Republican AIDS Center.

The source says more than 280,000 people were consulted and tested for HIV last year.  “797 men and 207 women tested positive for the infection,” he noted.

The HIV infection cases detected last year brought the total number of officially registered HIV cases in the country to 2,857.  Of officially registered people living with HIV in Tajikistan, 2,280 are men and 577 are women.

Injecting drug users (IDUs) now constitute 55 percent of the officially registered HIV sufferers, 28 percent of the HIV sufferers are reported to have contracted the infection through sexual contact and 10 percent of the officially registered HIV sufferers in Tajikistan are labor migrants.

More than 600 HIV sufferers in Tajikistan are undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Specialists from the Republican AIDS Center attribute increase in the number of HIV-positive people in the country  to increase in the number of people undergoing HIV tests.  “In 2009, 210,000 people underwent HIV testing, while in 2010, the number of such people increased to 280,000,” the source said, noting that HIV awareness is growing from to year and more and more people want to undergo HIV testing.

373 new cases of HIV infection were detected in 2009 and 424 new HIV cases were detected in Tajikistan in 2009.