Ambon, Maluku – Housewives emerged as the third largest group of HIV/AIDS infected people in Maluku in 2010, presumably because of their husbands' extramarital behavior, according to the agency monitoring the spread of the disease in the Indonesian province.

Aziz Shamsuddin, secretary of the Maluku Aids Prevention and Control Commission, said on Friday that the biggest numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS in Maluku in 2010 were found among the self-employed, prostitutes and housewives, in that order.

"Of the 380 new HIV/AIDS cases that were recorded in 2010, 95 involved self-employed people, 94 prostitutes and 73 housewives," he said.

The remainder were civil servants, military/policemen, students, private sector employees, ship crew and the unemployed.

In terms of age, most of those infected with HIV/AIDS, or about 82 percent of the total, were aged 15 to 39 years, four percent were 14 years or below and 14 percent in the 40 to 60 years group, Aziz said.

HIV/AIDS in Maluku was detected for the first time in Tual in 1994 when it was believed to have been transmitted by a foreign seaman. The number of detected HIV/AIDS cases at the time was 2.

Later, the lethal virus found its way into all districts and cities in Maluku. It also reached the most farflung regions, namely South Buru and Southwest Maluku. Some 1,333 have tested positive for the disease in the province.