Associated Press - November 21, 2006

Joel Rehnstrom, coordinator for the UNAIDS China office, said the increase in reported cases indicates that China is doing "more testing and more reporting and also that the epidemic continues to grow in many parts of the country."

The reported number of cases grew to 183,733 by Oct. 31 this year, up from 144,089 at the end of last year, the Health Ministry said in a report posted on its Web site.

Of the reported cases, 40,667 have developed into AIDS, it said. During the same period there were 4,060 AIDS deaths, bringing the total number of reported deaths in China due to the disease to 12,464 since it was identified in the mid-1990s.

Rehnstrom said reported HIV cases have been steadily increasing at a rate of about 30% annually since 1999 but that the real number of HIV cases in China is likely four to five times the reported figure.

"Each new HIV infection is a tragedy," Rehnstrom said. "The government needs to focus its efforts on...trying to stop the spread of HIV and to trying to bring the spread of HIV under control as soon as possible by controlling HIV transmission among injecting drug users and sex workers."

He said government efforts to promote clean needles and methadone treatments were beginning to have an effect but that those programs needed to be expanded.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday that government health surveys show that only 38.7% of Chinese sex workers use condoms and 50.8% of drug addicts still share needles.

The report also quoted Hao Yang, deputy director of the Health Ministry's Bureau of Disease Control, as saying that the rising number of cases showed that "the danger of the disease spreading further remains great."

The ministry said in its report that 37% of the cases reported this year were linked to drug use and 28% were caused by unsafe sex.

Last year, 90% of the HIV infections among drug users were found in seven provinces or autonomous regions, including Yunnan, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Hunan, Rehnstrom said. The health ministry didn't give specifics for the geographical distribution of this year's figures.

"What I've seen and what makes me sad is that it is often young men in their 20s (who contract HIV through drug use) and when you ask them why they started using drugs in the first place, they say it was just to try something new or because of peer pressure," Rehnstrom said.

"Many of them started using drugs several years ago before there was any awareness-raising campaign about HIV," he said.

After years of denying that AIDS was a problem, Chinese leaders have dramatically shifted gears in recent years, confronting the disease head-on, promising anonymous testing, free treatment for the poor and a ban on discrimination against people with the virus.

President Hu Jintao symbolized the new approach when he appeared on national television in late 2004 chatting and shaking hands with AIDS patients.

The ministry said 5.1% of the cases were caused by people selling blood illegally or receiving infected blood from hospitals.

HIV gained a foothold in China largely due to unsanitary blood plasma buying schemes and tainted transfusions in hospitals. China has cracked down harshly on such schemes and declared last year that the problem of tainted blood supplies was under control though new cases still emerge sporadically, often in rural areas.

Transmission from mothers to babies was 1.4%, the ministry said. It didn't say what caused the remaining 28.5% of infections.

Rehnstrom said there are usually a large number of cases where the source of infection is unknown, as many people who test positive are unwilling to disclose how they contracted HIV or are unsure how they were infected.

061121
AP061145

Copyright © 2006 - Associated Press. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the AP Permissions Desk.

AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted funding from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Elton John AIDS Foundation, National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you.

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2006. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2006. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .