At least 19,435 Iranians are living with HIV, with more than 1,000 new diagnoses recorded since December 2008, Agence France-Presse reports. The figures were originally reported May 3 by the ISNA news agency, quoting Iran’s health ministry.

According to the article, 1,875 HIV-positive Iranians have already progressed to AIDS. Out of all the HIV cases, 40 percent were among 25- to 34-year-olds, most of which were male. In fact, men accounted for 93 percent of all HIV cases.

The health ministry said the main cause of HIV infection in Iran is through intravenous drug use, which was linked to about 78 percent of the cases. HIV transmission through sexual contact accounted for 13 percent of cases, while 0.9 percent of infections were through mother-to-child transmission.