MEXICO CITY, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The number of Mexican women affected by AIDS has been on the rise in recent years, said Mexico's health authorities and experts on Monday.

    Mexican women accounted for about 20 percent of the new AIDS cases found in Mexico, and AIDS mortality rate among Mexican women have also witnessed a hike, said Jorge Saavedra, director of the National Center for the Prevention and Control of HIV-AIDS.

    These infected women got the epidemic more likely from their stable sexual partners or husbands rather than through extramarital sexual activities as most of their husbands or partners have been illegal immigrants to the United States, Saavedra said.

    Illegal Mexican immigrants to the United States have been a major source of AIDS infection for Mexican women, Manuel Yanez, professor at the Metropolitan Autonomous University, told Xinhua in an interview.

    These illegal immigrants in general have more sexual partners than ordinary Mexicans, Yanez said.

    They are more likely to have sex with prostitutes without using condoms, and to take intravenous drugs more often, thus taking greater risk of AIDS infection, said the professor.

    When these Mexican men come back to their homes with AIDS, they would spread the disease to their wives or partners, Yanez said.

    Tijuana is a Mexican city along the border with the United States where AIDS has higher incidence than other places, studies have showed.

    Thousands of Mexicans stay in the city for weeks or even months waiting for chances to cross the borders into the United States. During their dull and long wait, many resort to drinking alcohol, using drugs and having unprotected sex to kill the time, making them a high-risk group for AIDS infection, according to statistics from Yanez's institution.

    Yanez also noted that many infected women said that they knew their husbands had sexual relations with others, but they dare not to refuse their husbands' demand for sex for fear of being beaten.

    Many Mexican women got AIDS when they were sexually abused or the fear of being mistreated or beaten prevented them from asking their sexual partners to use condoms, said Axela Romero, general director of the Holistic Health for Women, a non-governmental organization.

    Romero noted that the traditional ideal of romantic love and fidelity does not always offer guarantee. "So we have women whose husbands swear to keep the fidelity but have sex with other women without protection," he added.

    Mexico is scheduled to host the 17th International AIDS Conference from Aug. 3 to Aug. 8. The conference, with Universal Action Now as its theme, is expected to draw about 25,000 participants from across the world. Mexican President Felipe Calderon will attend the opening ceremony.