Syria Reports 369 Persons Infected With HIV/AIDS

Syria reports 369 persons infected with HIV/AIDS

DAMASCUS, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) — Syrian Health Minister Maher Hussami said Thursday that there were 369 persons infected with HIV/AIDS in the country, including 221 Syrians and 148 foreigners.

Hussami was quoted by the official SANA news agency as saying that 106 of the infected died of the disease so far including three children.

Dec. 1 is the World AIDS Day, which fell on Thursday this year under the motto of “Coalition Against AIDS”.

“Syria offered medical care, including the up-to-date medicines, to the AIDS patients free of charge,” Hussami said.

According to the latest UN estimates, 38 million adults and 2.3 million children around the world are living with HIV, and in 2005 some 4.9 million people became newly infected with the lethal virus, 95 percent of them from the developing countries.