Mizoram has recorded the highest AIDS/HIV positive incidence rate with over 14,000 people found to be living with the disease since the first case was detected in the state in October 1990, HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2016-2017 of National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) report said.

The report which was published recently attributed sexual contact as the main factor for the fast spread of HIV positive in Mizoram as 24.68 percent of female commercial sex workers were infected with the disease against the average national record of 1.56 percent. Meghalaya tagged the second highest incidence rate among female sex workers at 5.94 percent, followed by Nagaland which tagged 3.60 percent. According to officials of Mizoram State Aids Control Society (MSACS), about 70 percent of people living with HIV positive were infected through unprotected sex, followed by sharing needles by injecting drug users at 32 percent.

The report, however, said that HIV positive incidence among Men Having Sex with Men (MSM) was nil in Mizoram, while Manipur recorded the highest rate of HIV positive among MSM in the country at 8.40 percent, followed by Nagaland at 7.66 percent and Karnataka at 5.40 percent. MSACS project director Dr Lalmalsawmi Sailo said in Mizoram, the rate of HIV positive is fast spreading among the youths in the age group of 15-24 and the highest number of infected person is found among people in the age group of 25-40.