Agence France Presse (04.24.02) - Monday, April 29, 2002
Portugal has the highest rate of HIV infection in the EU, and
is the only nation in the 15-member bloc where rates of
infection are rising, the National Statistics Institute in
Lisbon said last week. The institute said there were 104.2 HIV
cases per one million Portuguese residents in 2000, compared
with 88.3 cases in 1999. The EU average is just under 25 HIV
cases per one million residents. The number of Portugal's AIDS
cases has risen every year since its first recorded case in
1983. "I believe HIV infection rates may be stagnating, but
are not yet declining," said the national coordinator of the
fight against AIDS, Fernando Ventura, at an AIDS conference in
Porto earlier this month. Health officials say drug injection
is the main source of HIV infection in Portugal. Some 4,602
people have died of AIDS in Portugal since 1983, according to
the National Commission Against AIDS.