NEW YORK - THE Aids virus spreads in New York City three times faster than in the rest of the United States, the city's health department said on Wednesday in a report on the deadly disease.

Some 4,800 New Yorkers became HIV infected in 2006, said what is considered the first report to distinguish between people actually infected that year with the Aids virus and those infected in previous years.

For the same reason, however, the report said it was impossible to determine if there was an increase in HIV infection, but suggested that in New York the infection rate was three times higher than the national average.

With its estimated 100,000 HIV-positive individuals, New York City is considered the US epicenter of the AIDS epidemic.

The report put the rate of HIV contagion in the city at 72 per 100,000, while that of the United States at 23 per 100,000. -- AFP