India's Dimapur district accounts for more than 50% of the total number of HIV positive cases in the state of Nagaland, figures have revealed.
Government statistics show that the rate of HIV infection in the district has soared while state-wide levels remain relatively constant.
Of the total number of cases detected in the first quarter of 2010, 54.6% were in Dimapur - up from 32.4% in 2007-2008 and 44.5% in 2008-2009.
Sexual contact is the main route of transmission, accounting for 88% of new infections during the reporting period.
The number of pregnant women with HIV also increased from 1.62% of the total population during 2009-2010 to 3.2%.
Flying in the face of local beliefs that the problem is caused by those not from the district, the figures also showed that area residents accounted for 71.7% of the total number of HIV cases.
A spokesman for the federal government said it was looking into strategies to tackle the problem.
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