Record number of newly recorded HIV cases last year

There were 90 newly recorded cases of HIV infection in the Czech Republic in 2005, a new record. The total number who were HIV positive at the end of last year was 827, 650 men and 177 women. The head of a centre for victims of the disease, Miroslav Hlavaty, said on Thursday that figures for the first two months of this year indicate a further increase is possible in 2006. Almost 200 people in the Czech Republic have contracted AIDS, of whom 118 have died.