At least 446 people have been found to be HIV positive in Mizoram in the last one year.

Deputy Director of Mizoram State AIDS Control Society Rohmingthanga said that out of 8385 blood samples tested during October 2005 to October 2006, 446 were found to be HIV positive.

"Earlier, the people usually were afraid to get their blood tested and now the attitude has improved. Increasing number of blood tests might also be the reason for the increase of HIV positive rate," Dr Rohmingthanga added.

The increasing trend is among the high-risk groups, who are Injecting Drug Users and commercial sex workers, he said, adding that, of the 446 HIV positives detected in past one year, 226 had contracted it through sex.

HIV infection among drug users rose from 1.60 per cent in 2002 to 4 per cent in 2003, which further jumped to 5.33 per cent in 2004.

MSACS officials also did not rule out the possibility of HIV proliferation among people who don't belong to high-risk groups but who occasionally have interaction with people of high-risk groups.

As per the MSACS latest statistics on the whole, as many as 30,272 blood samples have been tested during the period of October 1990 to October 2006, which 1770 were found to be HIV positive, he said.