BANGKOK (AP) - The number of Vietnamese confirmed to be carrying the virus that causes

AIDS has risen to 100, the Vietnam News Agency reported Mar. 24.

The report, monitored in Bangkok, said this included 87 drug addicts and nine prostitutes,

and the carriers ranged in age from ten to 30.

It said 92 of the carriers were in Ho Chi Minh City, the communist nation's free-wheeling

commercial center in the south. It said 55 of these Ho Chi Minh City residents had

tested positive since the start of March.

Aids is believed to be a much greater problem in Vietnam than the numbers suggest.

Vietnam, with a population of 70 million, is one of the world's poorest countries

and has meager resources for large-scale testing.