BEIJING, Dec 3 (AFP) - An HIV carrier in northeast China who gave blood 15 times before he was diagnosed with the virus unknowingly infected at least 21 people, state media reported Saturday.
The infected donor, surnamed Song, from Dehui city in Jilin province tested positive for HIV on October 20, by which time 25 people had already received his blood, the China Youth Daily newspaper said.
The 41-year-old man gave blood 15 times to the central blood bank of Dehui between January 2003 and June 2004 without having been diagnosed as an HIV carrier, it said.
The case only came to light after a female farmer surnamed Wang died recently, having contracted a "mysterious disease" which was eventually diagnosed as AIDS.
She received the tainted blood during an operation in March 2003. Her case was reported to local authorities, who traced the blood back to Song.
An official investigation found that a total of 18 recipients of Song's blood have been infected with the HIV virus, of whom, three, including Wang, developed AIDS and died, Xinhua news agency said.
Song's two sex partners, as well as one of their spouses, were also diagnosed with HIV, it said.
Authorities have taken disciplinary action against six Dehui health officials and detained 11 staff at the blood bank.
China says there are about 840,000 HIV-positive people in China, although the United Nations says the figure could be much higher and has warned that the number of infected people could rise to 10 million by 2010.
Chinese government spending on AIDS prevention has risen to 800 million yuan (99 million US dollars) this year, up from 100 million yuan in 2002, according to official figures.
Health Minister Gao Qiang said Wednesday the government would be able to achieve its long-term goal of keeping the number of HIV patients to under 1.5 million by 2010.
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