Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - Saturday October 27, 2001
That raised the known number of people in China with the HIV virus to 28,133, the China Youth Daily said. Last year, some 5,201 new cases were reported, the newspaper said.
The report added to growing official candor about the AIDS epidemic in China, where experts believe at least 600,000 people carry the HIV virus. Doctors reported 328 new cases of full-blown AIDS from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, up from 233 in all of last year, the Youth Daily said. It cited figures released Saturday by Deputy Health Minister Yin Dakui.
Needle-sharing among intravenous drug users and the thriving sex trade were blamed for most new cases, the newspaper said.
But in another break from previous official reticence, the newspaper said some 0.2 percent of new cases were traced to homosexual intercourse. The report cited unidentified experts who said that as many as 100,000 of the 600,000 people in China believed to have the virus might be gay.
Officials usually are reluctant to acknowledge homosexuality in Chinese society. As a result, health experts worry that many homosexuals lack the information needed to avoid being exposed through sex.
China announced a new anti-AIDS campaign in August, promising additional spending on health care and education.
Foreign health experts have warned that without a dramatic increase in public awareness and preventive measures, the virus could spread into the general population. U.N. experts say that without effective measures, as many as 20 million Chinese could be infected by 2010.
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