Bulgaria's HIV-positive patients on record grew to 677 in November, up by 76 since the beginning of the year, officials said.

Though experts suppose the actual number of the infected exceeds that figure, AIDS is not an epidemic of catastrophic proportions for a population of approximately 8 million.

The lethal disease has been spreading mostly among men, younger people and residents of larger cities. HIV has already crossed into the mainstream population and take its toll among people from all ages, social groups and professions.

In over 90% percent of the cases the disease has been transmitted through sexual contacts, Tonka Vurleva, head of the program for HIV/AIDS prevention with Bulgaria's Health Ministry said at a seminar in Sofia. In this form the disease knows no age limits - unprotected sex inflicts with HIV people aged from 16 till 70.

Bulgaria's young pay a high price for being the first generation to have lived so far without the strict restrictions of the former totalitarian regime, often without any clear vision for the future and often in poverty. More than 70% of HIV infections are among 20-39 years old and the spread of the virus is particularly severe among young intravenous drug users. The youngest is aged 16.

Bulgaria is considered to have a relatively low number of HIV positive people presently, and health officials say efforts must focus on prevention.

The government seems to try hard to address the issue. As early as 2001 the National Strategy and the National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of AIDS was adopted to cover the period from 2001-2007.

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