18 cases of HIV/AIDS have been recorded in Kurdistan region, KRG health minister Tahir Hawrami told PUKmedia on Wednesday.

He said that all AIDS patients are residents of Kurdistan region, adding more than 80 foreign people have been sent home from Kurdistan region for holding HIV/AIDS.

The number of HIV/AIDS patients is expected to rise in Kurdistan region.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The illness interferes with the immune system making people with AIDS much more likely to get infections, including opportunistic infections and tumors that do not affect people with working immune systems. This susceptibility gets worse as the disease continues.