AIDS figures among lowest in the world

By Rita Kyriakides

CYPRUS has one of the lowest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world, the government said yesterday.

A statement said there were 374 recorded cases of AIDS on the island up to October this year – 219 affecting Cypriots, and 155 foreigners – accounting for less than 0.1 per cent of the population. The proportion of sufferers is very low by international standards, the statement added.

Of the 219 Cypriots, 189 were men and 30 women, a rate of six men to one woman.

Ninety per cent of sufferers said they were infected through sexual intercourse, 44 per cent of them heterosexual and 47 per cent of them homosexual.

Another 3.2 per cent were infected through blood transplants, which all took place in other countries before 1987 and 1.8 per cent admitted that they were drug users and were infected because they shared needles.

There was only one case of a pregnant woman transmitting the disease to her baby.

The statement said 76 per cent of patients were between the ages of 20 and 40 when they were diagnosed.

One hundred and thirty-seven of the patients have developed full-blown AIDS, of whom 53 have died.

The statistics show an average of 23 new cases every year, 14 Cypriots and nine foreigners.

A steady increase was recorded until 1994 followed by a small decrease up to 1998, while in 1999 and 2000, there was a small increase, most of which concerned Cypriots suffering from AIDS returning from abroad.

The report called for the continuation of precautionary measures against the virus, with emphasis on those who are most at risk, such as those with dangerous sexual habits, homosexuals and drug users who share needles.

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