Unsafe sex continues to be the most common route to HIV/AIDS in Haryana with the state witnessing a spurt in the number of AIDS cases from 189 in 2010 to 355 in 2011. The state reported over 24,000 HIV positive cases last year. While 85 HIV/AIDS cases were the result of unsafe sex, 4 per cent cases were reported on account of blood transfusion. Almost 4 per cent of the cases were the offshoot of the use of infected needles and syringes while other causes accounted for the remaining reported cases, sources told The Tribune here today. Officials highlighted that the recent spurt in AIDS cases could be attributed to the increased awareness among the HIV positive patients and the setting up of a network of treatment facilities across the state. Since treatment for the disease is free, an increased number of patients is reporting for treatment at the state-run treatment centres, the officials highlighted. Dr Vijay Garg, additional project director, Haryana State AIDS Control Society (HACS), claimed that HIV positivity among pregnant women was just 0.14 per cent in 2011 -- a substantial reduction from 0.30 per cent in 2006. Among the general clients, the positivity had come down from 6.47 per cent to 1.9 per cent from 2006 to 2011, he said The officials disclosed that seven new targeted intervention projects, including two for truckers and five for migrants, and three new OPIOID substitution therapy centres at Panipat, Faridabad and Jhajjar would be made functional in 2012-13. This would go a long way in reducing the prevalence of HIV among injectable drug users (IUDs). Dr Garg said currently the state was covered by 59 NGOs in high-risk groups like female sex workers, injectable drug users, migrants and men having sex with men. Besides, the state had already opened three OPIOID substitution therapy centres for IUDs at Panchkula, Sonepat and Ambala and three more such centres were planned at Panipat, Bahadurgarh and Faridabad, he stated. Four more integrated counselling and testing centres (ICTCs) at Khanpur Kalan (Sonepat), Nalhar (Mewat), Gurgaon and Panchkula, and five more link anti-retroviral therapy (ART) centres at Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Yamunanagar and Gurgaon were on the anvil in 2012-13, the officials added.