The Ministry of Health stopped 75 marriages in 2008 after detecting HIV cases during the pre-marital tests required before signing a marriage contract, authorities said. The 75 cases counted for 0.03 percent out of 288,718 cases tested. Throughout 2008, the tests found that 18376 people affected with contagious and hereditary diseases accounting for 6.41 percent of the people tested, said Ibrahim Al-Omar, director of labs and blood banks at the Ministry of Health. The tests also found 3711 cases of Hepatitis B accounting for 1.29 percent, 781 cases of Hepatitis C accounting for 0.23 percent, 10,931 cases carrying sickle cell anemia accounting for 3.79 percent with 651 affected cases accounting for 0.23 percent, 2,116 cases carrying thalassemia accounting for 0.73 percent with 111 cases accounting for 0.04 percent.
