AIDS cases have continued to rise in Iran since the discovery of the first case there 16 years ago, according to newly released health ministry statistics. The numbers increased from 3,400 HIV-infected and 350 dead last year to 4,846 infected and 623 dead in 2003, reported the ministry. Some officials, however, put the actual number of HIV/AIDS cases at 20,000. Iranian officials have only recently begun openly discussing AIDS. Drug addicts are believed to make up some 65 percent of AIDS cases in Iran, where there are an estimated 130,000 IV users of heroin and morphine. The other primary mode of transmission is sexual contact. The spread of drug abuse and related patterns of crimes and prostitution could create conditions for a much larger progression of HIV/AIDS. The education ministry has signed up 240 health experts to provide high school students in Tehran with AIDS education, the Resalat daily reported Monday.

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