HONG KONG, Nov 16 (AFP) - Hong Kong registered a record number of HIV cases in the third quarter with a big rise among the gay community, official figures showed Wednesday.
The department of health showed 91 people tested positive for HIV during the three-month period to September, a 29 percent increase from the last quarter.
Two-thirds were infected via sexual contacts, with 32 cases reported by homosexuals, up from 17 in the previous quarter.
The rise is in sharp contrast with transmission via heterosexual contact as an unchanged number of 28 people were infected.
The rest were infected either through needle-sharing in drug use or from mothers to their babies, the department said.
"The statistic is somewhat unexpected ... the observation that we made is the big rise in the cases among the men who had sex with men," said Wong Ka-hing, the department's consultant.
"I think this point is more remarkable because for the hetrosexual-transmitted cases, the number has remained stable as compared to the last quarter," he told local radio.
The department said 17 new cases of AIDS were reported in the same quarter, a fall from 20 cases in the previous three months.
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