Number of HIV cases in Czech Republic on rise

The number of people infected with the HIV virus in the Czech Republic has risen in the last three years and doctors registered sixty-four new cases alone since January. The news was revealed by Marie Bruckova from the State Health Institute on Thursday. According to Mrs Bruckova the rise has confirmed a trend which began in 2004 and is expected to continue. In a press conference on Thursday Bruckova cited a number of reasons why HIV prevention has lessoned: according to the specialist the lowering of state funds has had an impact. Doctors have registered almost nine hundred HIV positive individuals in the Czech Republic and the former Czechoslovakia since 1986. 202 cases later developed into full-blown AIDS.

Last year, 90 new cases of HIV positive were registered. Four-fifths of those infected are men. Unprotected sex and the sharing of dirty needles in drug abuse are the two most common factors towards catching the deadly virus.

Author: Jan Velinger