MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Russia currently has 1.25 million people living with HIV, meaning about one out of every hundred people in the country is walking around with the virus, stated Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the specialized AIDS prevention and control research department at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor and an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

"At present, Russia has approximately 1.25 million living HIV-positive individuals, people with detected HIV antibodies, which are recognized as a definitive marker of infection. The risks of transmission remain very high. In our country, among adults aged 15 to 50, the prevalence rate exceeds 1%. This translates to every hundredth person in the nation being infected. When examining specific demographics, such as men aged 40 to 45, the rate reaches 4%. Consequently, one in every 25 men in this group is a carrier of the virus," he explained during a press conference in Moscow.

He emphasized that HIV is a global scourge, not limited to Russia. Worldwide, forty million people are living with the virus. This year, the World Health Organization (WHO) anticipates 1.4 million new HIV infections. "Therefore, the foremost priority is to prevent infection, as treatment is costly and involves complex drug regimens," he concluded.

December 1 marks World AIDS Day, established by the WHO in 1988.