en Epidemiology Epidemiology Original Research Original Research <p> <strong> Background: </strong>Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was firstly reported from California and soon became a pandemic in the world.This disease poses seriousthreats to humans’ health.In this study, we intended to examine the characteristicsof HIV-positive patients whoreferred to the Behavioral Diseases Consultation Center (BDCC) in Shiraz, Iran. </p><p> <strong> Methods </strong>: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study.HIV-positive patients,referring toBDCC of Shiraz University of Medical Scienceswere the populationunder thestudy. The data, collected through a checklist,wereencodedand enteredintothe SPSS 19. Then descriptive statistics such as mean, median,standard deviation and range were used to describe the variables. Also, the relationships between the variables were testedusing X2 test. </p><p> <strong> Results </strong>: The mean and median age of the HIV-positive patientswere 39 + 8.7 and 38years, respectively.Nearly327 (65.4%) of the studied population were maleand 173 (34.6%) were female. With respect to marital status,225 (45%)participantswere married, 133 (27%) were single,91 (18.2%) were divorced and 49 (9.8%) werewidowed. Also,265(53%) of the participantswere infected throughinjection drug use, 198 (39.6%) through sexual route,7 (1.4%) through blood and blood products, 6 (1.2%) throughtattoos and 21 (4.2%) by other routes.Most of the participantshad a HIV-positive history in theirfamily, and 145 (29%) mentionedthat their wiveswere HIV-positive.Moreover, 320 (62.7%) of the participantshad a positive history of drug use, 176 (35.2%) did not have a history of drug abuse, and the status of 10 (2%)participantswas not recognized. </p><p> <strong> Conclusion </strong>: Although the results of this study highlighted that injection addiction remains the major transmission route inIran, the role of sexual transmission should be acknowledged in the future. </p><p>  </p> HIV, AIDS, Descriptive study,Epidemiologic Characteristics, Shiraz, Iran. 987 993 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-787&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Yousef Alimohamadi Yousefalimohamadi@ymail.com 200319475328460014930 200319475328460014930 No Department of Epidemiology, School of Health and Nutrition, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Hamidreza Tabatabaee Tabatabaee@sums.ac.ir 200319475328460014931 200319475328460014931 No Department of Epidemiology, School of Healthand Nutrition, Shiraz University of Medical sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Parvin Afsar Kazerooni Afsarkp@sums.ac.ir 200319475328460014932 200319475328460014932 No HIV Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Sajad Vahedi vahedi.s3@gmail.com 200319475328460014933 200319475328460014933 Yes Department of Health Economics, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Meysam Enaami meysamenami@yahoo.com 200319475328460014934 200319475328460014934 No Department of Health Economics, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Abedin Teimourizad teimouriz@gmail.com 200319475328460014935 200319475328460014935 No Department of Health Economics, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.