DHAKA, Dec 1 (AFP) - A total of 20 Bangladeshis have died from AIDS so far as health workers are working across the country to prevent the spread of the fatal disease, government officials said Sunday.

According to the National AIDS Committee (NAC), 248 people have contracted HIV, the virus that brings on AIDS, so far in Bangladesh.

Of the total, 26 have developed full-blown AIDS and 20 of them have died, the NAC said.

Health Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told a ceremony Sunday marking the World AIDS Day that some 55,000 health workers were working across Bangladesh to prevent the spread of the disease.

"Although Bangladesh had a low prevalence rate of the disease due to people's religious beliefs, moral practices and social values, there is no room for complacency," he said.

The UN estimated that about 13,000 people were HIV positive in Bangladesh at the end of 1999, but said that cases were likely to be under reported because of limited voluntary testing and the stigma and fear of being identified as HIV positive.

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