RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 6 (AFP) - Alarmed by the increasing rate of AIDS in Brazilians over 60, the government will begin distributing condoms to the rowdy geriatric crowd, the Ministry of Health said Thursday.

A study at the private Gafree and Guinle hospital here revealed that, in the last five years, 86 cases of the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome were diagnosed, leading hospitals to review some 2,000 cases, fearing incorrect diagnoses.

Health ministry data from 2000 suggested that 202 cases of AIDS were diagnosed in people over 60 nationwide.

In general, the virus was not diagnosed because some doctors did not think to test their geriatric patients for AIDS, failing to recognize the possibility they were sexually active, the hospital study found.

But hormone therapies and medicines like Viagra have contributed to extending the sexual life of elderly Brazilians.

According to the study, men represent 75 percent of the new diagnoses of AIDS, primarily men engaging in homosexual sex or those who take partners other than their wives.

Some 580,000 Brazilians are HIV positive. The country has developed a revolutionary treatment program, costing 300 million dollars annually, to provide free anti-retroviral drug cocktails to 100,000 patients, resulting in a 40 percent reduction in the mortality rate.

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