HIV infected women outnumber men

HIV (human immunodeficiency infection) tends to spread among women at a far greater speed than among men, a new report reveals.

The "feminization" of &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/360/14436_hiv.html' target=_blank>AIDS appears to reflect a maturing of the epidemic, said the authors of the annual AIDS update prepared by the United Nations, World Health Organization and World Bank. More and more seemingly low-risk women, many of them married, are being infected by men who acquired the virus through high-risk behavior years ago.

The trend is most advanced in sub-Saharan Africa, where the AIDS epidemic began and which is home to more than half the world's &to=http://english.pravda.ru/region/2001/05/21/5569.html' target=_blank>HIV-infected people. Women there now comprise 57 percent of people living with the virus.

From 2002 to 2004, the percentage of infected people who are women rose or stayed the same in all regions, reports News Observer.