The conflict in eastern Ukraine has increased the spread of HIV throughout the country, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) with reference to the study of the U.S. edition of PNAS.

The study says the HIV crisis in Ukraine has become a "silent epidemic" because half of HIV-infected people are unaware they have the infection, and around 40 percent of newly diagnosed people are in the later stages of the disease.

Scientists found a correlation between the movement of 1.7 million people uprooted by the war and the spread of HIV.

To produce the study, an international team of scientists led by Oxford University and Public Health England analyzed viral migration patterns in Ukraine from 2012 to 2015.

"The war changed a lot of things in Ukraine and the HIV epidemic is one of them. When we conducted our analysis, we were able to show that the viral spread from the east to the rest of the country had been intensified after the war," lead author Tetiana Vasylieva of Oxford University's zoology department said.

Ukraine has among the highest HIV rates in Europe, with an estimated 220,000 infected in a country of about 45 million.