The number of new diagnoses with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, increased to 1,958 in 2003, up from 1,716 in 2002 and 1,470 in 2001.

Gay men represented the largest group of new cases at 41 percent, with most of them in large cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Frankfurt. Twenty-two percent of new infections were among women.

Some 43,000 people in Germany were infected with the virus at the end of 2003, with about 5,000 ill with AIDS. Some 600 people died of the disease last year.

The institute said high-risk behavior such as sex without a condom had led to the increase.

Only 73 percent of those under the age of 45 polled said they had used a condom at the beginning of a new relationship, down five percentage points from 2000.

It added that condom sales were also down in Germany, to 189 million sold versus 207 million in 2000.

TERRA.WIRE