(AGI) Rome, Nov 25 - The number of new cases of AIDS in Italyremained stable in 2014, according to the Italian Institute ofHealth (ISS) AIDS Centre annual newsletter. However, 71.5 percent of patients in Italy were unaware of being HIV-positive in2014, compared with 20 per cent in 2006. In practice, more thanseven patients in 10 were unaware of having contracted thevirus prior to diagnosis. A snapshot of new cases of AIDS andnew cases of HIV-positivity showed that 3,695 people in Italydiscovered they were HIV-positive in 2014, equivalent to 6.1new cases of HIV-positivity for every 100,000 residents. Noparticular differences were seen compared with the threeprevious years, putting Italy in 12th place in the EU. Thehardest-hit regions were Lazio, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna.The prevalence of HIV was highest in men, who represented 79.6per cent of cases in 2014, while the incidence of new diagnosesin women continued to drop. The average age was 39 for men and36 for women. The most affected age bracket was 25 to 29, with15.6 new cases for every 100,000 people. Most of the new casesof HIV infection related to sexual relations without condoms,making up 84.1 per cent of all reported cases, broken down asfollows: males having sex with males, 40.9 per cent; maleheterosexuals, 26.3 per cent; female heterosexuals, 16.9 percent. Foreigners made up 27.1 per cent of those found to beHIV-positive. In 2014, there were 4.7 new cases for every100,000 residents and 19.2 new cases for every 100,000 foreignresidents. The highest incidences among foreigners were seen inLazio, Campania, Sicily and Molice. In foreigners, 36 per centof cases were female heterosexuals and 27 per cent were maleheterosexuals, while in Italians, 49 per cent of cases weremales having sex with males, and 26 per cent were maleheterosexuals. (AGI). .