38 million people infected with the HIV virus

AROUND 4.8 million people, the most ever recorded in a single year, became infected with HIV in 2003, a UN agency said as it warned that Eastern Europe and Asia were just behind Africa as the plum targets for AIDS.

Almost 38 million people across the world are living with the HIV virus, the most comprehensive study into the disease revealed yesterday. The UN report shows the spread of the illness is continuing to outpace global attempts to contain it, despite billions of pounds of funding.

The number of people living with HIV has risen in every region of the world and, last year, five million people were infected, more than in any previous year.