Thirty years have passed since South Korea reported its first case of human immunodeficiency virus infection, which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome, on June 29, 1985. The number of new cases is on the rise, with more than 1,000 new HIV patients being reported each year. HIV, however, has become a chronic, manageable disease due to rapid advance in treatment, health authorities say.

As of late 2014, more than 8,600 people in Korea were living with HIV, mostly men who contracted the virus through sexual contact. Of 1,114 new cases reported in 2013, all patients were found to have been infected by sexual contact, with no single report of infection through the transfusion of contaminated blood.