EASTERN EUROPE NEW AIDS REGION, REPORT SAYS

MOSCOW - Every minute worldwide, five people between the ages of 10 and 24
become infected with HIV, according to a report released here today.

The UNAIDS report also warned that Eastern Europe is set to become "one of
the next epicenters" of the world AIDS crisis, with HIV infection rates
having increased at least sixfold since 1994.

The report said that 190,000 people in the region are infected, a contagion
rate driven by a sharp rise in the use of injected drugs.

In conjunction with the report, the joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS launched
a yearlong campaign called "Force for Change: World AIDS Campaign with
Young People."

The report said that the young are particularly hard-hit by the world
epidemic, with at least one-third of the 30 million HIV carriers being 24
or younger.

Each day, 7,000 young people worldwide contract HIV, adding up to 2.6
million new infections annually, it said.

The report warned of an explosion in sexually transmitted diseases across
Eastern Europe.

New syphilis cases have gone from 10 per 100,000 people each year in the
late 1980s to - in some regions - hundreds per 100,000.

UNAIDS is a grouping of five U.N. agencies and the World Bank.