MOSCOW, February 17 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 50,670 people have been diagnosed with HIV in Russia in 2008, Russia's chief sanitary official, Gennady Onishchenko, said on Tuesday.

"We have registered 50,670 new cases of HIV infection in 2008," he said, adding that almost 24 million Russians underwent HIV tests in 2008.

A total of 5,818 Russians, including 255 children, have developed full blown AIDS.

The overall number of HIV cases registered since 1987 has reached 467,016 of which some 31,636 people have already died from a number of different causes. In Russia some 4,613 people have died from AIDS-related illnesses.

Onishchenko said that intravenous drug use is still the main method of transmitting the virus.

In 2008 a total of 8,367 women with children received antiretroviral drug treatment to prevent mother-to-child infection. The transmission rate between the mother and child stands at 5% in Russia.