BANGKOK, Dec 1 (AFP) - Doctors on World AIDS Day Wednesday warned hundreds of thousands of Thais with the HIV virus would soon develop AIDS but expressed confidence the rate of new infections was under control.

Thailand, with its developed sex trade and high incidence of drug use, has one of the highest rates of HIV infections in the world.

But experts say education campaigns are now working and the rate of new HIV infections is slowing.

"Thailand is home to the world's fourth highest totals of AIDS patients

country but the rate of increase in new infections with HIV is declining," said Dr Wiwat Rajanapitayakorn, team leader of UNAIDS Asia-Pacific.

However, Thailand had yet to see the full extent of its AIDS problem, Wiwat warned.

"Even though the rate of increase has stopped, the rate of patients with AIDS will drastically increase as their infections move on to the final stage of the disease," Wiwat said.

HIV can take up to seven years to develop into full-blown AIDS.

Wiwat said 950,000 people, or one in six Thais, were infected with the HIV virus. More than 120,000 are currently AIDS patients, according to Public Health Ministry statistics.

Since AIDS was first detected in Thailand in 1984, 35,412 people have died of the disease.

UNAIDS has listed Thailand along with India, Cambodia and Myanmar as areas of most critical concern during the AIDS epidemic.

Thai public health agencies organised a television program Wednesday to persuade people to have blood tests before marriage and starting families in a bid to check the generational spread of the disease.

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration also organised special events while the Thai Red Cross planned a candlelit vigil to mark World AIDS Day.

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