Russia's HIV Epidemic Now Out of Control

MOSCOW -- Robin Gorna, chief of the International Aids Society, issued a warning and urged Russia to exert more efforts to stem the spread of the HIV virus among two million suspected drug users.

Ms. Gorna made the statement before a major international conference in Moscow that aims to tackle the issue on AIDS.

It is estimated that there are currently at least a million people who have contracted the HIV virus in Russia. This indicates a significant increase over the past ten years.

A great majority of the infected victims are people under the age of 30. It is believed that most of the victims were infected when they share needles for injecting heroin.

Some estimates claim that there could be up to two million intravenous drug users in the country. This is the consequence of the huge volumes of heroin being smuggled into Russia from Afghanistan.

During the conference in Moscow, international experts will attempt to convince the Russian government to get rid of laws which they claim hinder efforts to slow down the  rate of transmission of the HIV virus.