BELGRADE, Nov 18 (AFP) - Up to 20,000 people in Yugoslavia are infected with the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, while 583 have died from the disease since 1985, Serbian health officials said Thursday.

Doctor Veljko Djurkovic, chairman of Belgrade health institute, told a news conference that 583 of the 806 people who developed the disease have died since 1985 in the country.

According to the data presented at the Third conference on AIDS prevention held in Serbia, 1,142 infected by HIV (human immuno-deficiency virus), were registered in the Yugoslav capital, state agency Tanjug reported.

Since January 1999, 26 people died of AIDS, while 25 new cases of AIDS were registered in Belgrade.

Intravenous drug users make up 64 percent of those infected, Djurkovic said, adding that 2,5 more men than women have been infected, with an average age of between 30 and 39 years.

Yugoslavia, with a population of 10.5 million, has a low rate of HIV infection, Djurkovic noted.

In Montenegro, Serbia's junior partner in the Yugoslav federation, and Kosovo, the Serbian province currently administrated by the UN, the numbers of those infected are low, Djurkovic said.

However, he warned that data on HIV prevalence and facilities to deal with the problem are available mostly in Belgrade and in the northern province of Vojvodina, while the numbers for other regions have not been examined thoroughly.

Health officials have often warned that the treatment of AIDS patients was difficult and expensive in Yugoslavia, impoverished after almost eight years of international sanctions with an average monthly income of 50 dollars.

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