The survey of 12,000 youths aged between 15 and 25, who were interviewed by the reproduction health research unit of Johannesburg's respected Witswatersrand University, showed that one in 10 youths had contracted the virus that can lead to AIDS, SAFM radio reported.

Helen Reese, executive director of the unit, said alcohol and drug abuse was contributing to the spread of HIV and AIDS, South Africa's biggest killer.

"About 10 percent of young people reported that they had used different sorts of substances, including, of course, alcohol being the commonest, 10 percent said, actually drugs and ... three percent said they achieved intravenous drugs."

"If this is a trend that is beginning to creep in... it's clearly something else that we need to be very mindful of and to be watching for," said Reese.

The survey showed that young women are bearing the brunt of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Of the 10 percent of infected youth, 77 percent are women, the radio report said.

"(The) research shows one in four women aged between 20 and 24 is HIV positive compared with one in 14 men of the same age," said health expert Sue Valentine.

"Almost one-third of sexually experienced young women reported their first sexual encounter had been unwanted and that they had been coerced by their male partner into having sex," she added.

The UNAIDS agency estimates that South Africa has 5.3 million people infected with HIV and AIDS at the end of 2002 -- the highest ratio in the world.

South Africa's cabinet approved in November the outline of a plan to provide anti-retroviral drugs for those infected with HIV/AIDS after the government lost several court battles with lobby groups seeking free treatment for all sufferers.

The government has started to roll out AIDS treatment in three provinces in the country, but the lobby groups have said more needs to be done to treat the infected.

TERRA.WIRE