YEREVAN. – A total of 1,381 HIV cases were recorded in Armenia, from 1988 to December 31, 2012, and 228 of these were recorded in 2012 alone, which is the most number of cases as compared to all previous years.

Health Ministry’s National Center for AIDS Prevention official website informs that most carriers of the HIV virus in Armenia are men, with 70.3 percent; this is 29.7 percent among women, and 1.9 percent, among children.  

The HIV virus is transmitted in Armenia primarily by way of heterosexual intercourse (56.9%) and injection of illegal drugs (34.1%). In addition, cases were recorded when the virus was transmitted through homosexual intercourse, from mother to the baby, and from blood. 

AIDS was diagnosed in 691—including 169 women and eleven children—HIV carriers in Armenia, and 133 of these cases were recorded in 2012 alone.

A total of 305 HIV/AIDS patients—including 52 women and five children—have died in Armenia ever since the beginning of this disease.  

All those that caught this virus through injection of illegal drugs were men. Moreover, most of them had temporarily resided in Russia and Ukraine. In addition, 41.6 percent of Armenia’s men with the HIV virus likewise are injected illegal drug users, whereas 98 percent of the infected women caught HIV through sexual intercourse.  

The most number of recorded HIV cases in Armenia is in capital city Yerevan, with 38.5 percent. Second is Shirak Region, with 10.5 percent. 

The HIV/AIDS situation assessment in Armenia has shown that the estimated number of people with HIV in the country is 3,500.