35 prostitutes get HIV tests

BOGOR (JP): Health authorities have taken blood samples from 34 prostitutes and a transvestite caught soliciting on city streets to test for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Spokesman for the Bogor mayoralty Hari Harsono said Thursday the samples would be sent to the health ministry's laboratory in Bandung to test for the presence of the virus which causes AIDS.

"The results can be obtained in a week from now," Hari told the media.

Those rounded up ranged in age from 16 and 56, but most were teenagers, he said.

They will be sent to a social rehabilitation center in Cirebon, West Java, to undergo obtain basic vocational training.

"They are expected to use the basic skills to work after they finish the training," Hari said. (24)