Russian HIV-Positive Cases Up By 5 Percent

A medical worker collects a blood sample from a patient being tested for HIV and AIDS at a laboratory in Veliki Novgorod. (file photo)

Russian officials say a total of 62,000 people tested positive for HIV in Russia in 2011, which is a 5-percent increase over the previous year.

Russia's chief sanitary inspector Gennady Onishchenko warned of a "feminization" of the disease, saying half of those who tested positive for HIV in Russia's 13 regions were women.

According to Onishchenko, the situation is the worst in Siberia, the Povolzhye region, and the Urals.

He said a rise in HIV in Russia comes from drug users injecting Afghan heroine.

Onishchenko said over 600,000 HIV-positive people had been registered in Russia since 1987.

With Interfax and Ria Novosti reporting