Miami Herald, The (FL)
2004-11-24
Section: Front
Edition: Final
Page: 10A

Nearly five million people worldwide were infected with HIV during 2004, bringing the number living with the virus that causes AIDS to nearly 40 million, the highest number since the syndrome was identified in 1981.

The steepest increases were in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. New cases leveled off in the Caribbean, but it remained the second-most-affected region in the world, with 2.3 percent of its population infected with HIV/AIDS. ``The number of people living with HIV has been rising in every region,'' said the AIDS Epidemic Update released Tuesday by the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization.

Read more: Latin America's HIV Rise Among Highest