The number of Vietnamese infected with the human-immunodeficiency virus, which can cause AIDS, is creeping toward 1,000, but the number of AIDS sufferers is stable, officials said Monday.

They said 955 people were confirmed HIV-positive, up from 820 in early October.But only 28 - 13 of whom have died - have been diagnosed as suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The figures were the same as those on October 2, when the last AIDS deaths were reported.

The officials, of the National AIDS Committee, denied a local press report that 63 HIV-positive drug addicts in Ho Chi Minh City had been diagnosed as AIDS victims and 12 of them had died.

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Vietnam discovered its first HIV case in December 1990 and its first case of AIDS this year.

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