RIYADH, Sept 4: Saudi Arabia had almost 9,000 cases of HIV/Aids at the end of last year. Dr Khaled Mirghalani, an official at the health ministry, said of the 8,919 cases reported till the end of last year, 2,005 cases, or 22.4 per cent, were Saudis.

A total of 646 Saudis have died of the disease.

Under Saudi law, any expatriate or foreigner found suffering from Aids is deported to his home country.

Jeddah has the highest number of HIV Patients, according to the official.

Statistics showed 78.4 per cent of the victims caught the deadly virus after physical interaction with infected people.

Doctors think that many victims contracted the fatal disease while travelling abroad.

Transfusion of imported blood, use of drugs and transmission of the virus from infected mothers to new-borns were responsible for 21.6 per cent of the total cases.

Infected men outnumbered infected women by three to one. Seventy-eight per cent of the patients were between 15 and 49 years of age.

Last year, 32 Saudis carrying the virus were detected. There has been an annual increase of 10 per cent in the number of Saudis afflicted with the disease for the last few years, according to the health ministry.

Among expatriates the rate of increae is 7.8 per cent.