Thirty-one of the 138 new cases of HIV infections reported in the first-half of 2004 were through homosexual transmission, compared to 40 cases for the whole of 2003, the Ministry of Health said in its latest statistics on HIV infection in Singapore monitored on its website.

In 2001, there were 26 cases of Human Immuno-deficiency Virusinfection via homosexual transmission and the figure rose to 30 in 2002, the ministry said.

"Heterosexual transmission has been the most common mode of HIV transmission among Singaporeans since 1991," the ministry said.

"However, since 2001, an increasing trend of HIV infection has been observed among homosexual men in Singapore, from 12 cases reported in 2000 to 40 cases in 2003.

"During the first half of this year, thirty-one of the 138 new cases reported acquired the infection through homosexual transmission," it said.

The latest HIV infection cases bring the total number of Singaporeans afflicted with the virus to 2213 since the first HIV/AIDS patients were detected in the city-state in 1985.

Of the 2213 cases, 535 have full blown AIDS, 844 are asymptomatic carriers and 834 have died from the disease, the ministry said.

Sexual transmission remains the main mode of HIV infection in Singapore, it added.

Heterosexual transmission accounted for 65 percent of the 138 cases reported in the first-half of 2004, homosexual transmission 23 percent and bisexual transmission eight percent.

                                                      Home