Bulgaria Reports 195 New Cases of HIV-Positive People in 2014

Bulgaria has registered 195 new cases of HIV-positive people in the period 1 January- 21 November 2014, according to Health Ministry data.

The newly-registered cases of people carrying the virus that causes AIDS have taken the official total number of people with HIV/AIDS in Bulgaria to 2,025, the ministry said in a statement marking the World AIDS Day on Monday.

The United Nations' World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year to honor the victims of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Out of those registered as newly infected in Bulgaria in the first 11 months of the year 158 were males and 37 were females.

Forty-two percent of the newly registered people with HIV fall into the age group 30-39 years, while the share of those up to 29-years old has decreased to 35% from over 50% three years ago.

Nearly half of the new registrations of HIV-positive people were made in Sofia, followed by the cities of Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas.

According to Health Ministry data, a total of 251,479 people have been tested for HIV in Bulgaria in the first nine months of 2014, including 68,450 people who were granted free anonymous testing at the special centres for discovering HIV and prevention of AIDS set up by the ministry across the country.