80,000 Iranians estimated to be HIV-positive

The total number of Iranians infected with the deadly HIV virus is estimated to be around 80,000,Iran's Ministry of Health has said.

“According to experts' latest estimates, it is estimated that around 80,000 people have been infected with the HIV virus and AIDS disease,” IRNA quoted head of the AIDS department of Iran's Ministry of Health, Abbas Sedaqat, as saying on Saturday.

"There are more than 19,000 registered individuals who have tested HIV-positive according to the official figures,” he went on to say.

The official further added that about 64 percent of those infected were drug addicts who had used contaminated needles.

“Five AIDS counseling centers have recently been established in Tehran, Kermanshah, Mashhad, Shiraz and Lorestan as part of a pilot program to help the AIDS patients and their families,” he explained.

“There is still no cure for AIDS, but new medicine can help patients live longer by controlling and increasing the immunity system in the body,” he asserted.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, about 65 million people worldwide, suffer from HIV.