Russian AIDS crisis deepens

The number of people in Russia infected with the virus that causes AIDS has risen by more than 10% since January, Russia’s top AIDS expert said yesterday, again underscoring the deadly disease’s gathering threat to the country.

Vadim Pokrovsky, who heads the Federal AIDS Centre, said the official number of people infected with HIV climbed from 270,000 to 300,000 between January and October, according to the Interfax news agency.