KHUJAND, August 11, 2008, Asia-Plus -- 53 HIV sufferers, including 38 men and 16 women, have died in the northern Sughd province since 1991, when the first HIV case was registered here, the Sughd Regional AIDS Center director Abdujalol Jabborov said.    

According to him, 31 new HIV cases, including  23 men and 8 women, registered over the first seven months of this year have brought the total number of the officially registered HIV sufferers in northern to 320. 

“Eight of the newly registered HIV sufferers are persons aged 20-29, 14 are persons aged 30-39 and nine others are persons aged 40 to 59,” said Jabborov.  “Twelve of them are drug users, 13 persons have contracted HIV through sexual intercourse and the course of the infection is unknown in six cases.”  

Of 320 HIV sufferers that have been registered in the province so far, 58.6 percent or 188 persons are injecting drug users, 19 percent or 61 persons have contracted the disease through sexual intercourse and the cause of the infection is unknown in 69 cases, the AIDS director said.