Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
BBC News - December 30, 2005
His parents, neither of whom has the virus, say he contracted it from a blood transfusion during surgery.
But the court turned down the boy's claim because there was no solid proof the hospital and blood centre were to blame, state news agency Xinhua says.
His parents had sought compensation for his medical expenses and mental trauma.
The child lost an earlier lawsuit because the blood centre refused to submit the blood donor's personal file, in an effort to protect the individual's privacy, Xinhua says.
Cases under-reported
The boy tested positive for HIV in November 2003 in central Henan province after suffering from a serious case of pneumonia, his family said.
Both his parents tested negative for the virus.
They therefore concluded that the blood transfusion during surgery to repair their son's cleft palate - at Beijing's Stomatological Hospital in August 2002 - was the only possible source of the infection.
The director of the hospital's medical affairs department said the boy's HIV infection was not connected to the hospital.
She said it was difficult to establish where he was infected as he had also been operated on at hospitals in Henan province.
Lawsuits over HIV-tainted blood have surfaced in recent years throughout China, according to previous Xinhua reports.
In several cases, patients infected with the virus through a blood transfusion have won compensation.
China says it has almost a million people with the virus, but experts say the real figure is likely to be much higher.
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