Alarm sounded over risk of rapid spread of HIV
United Nations researchers warn the disease could infect mainstream society
The comparatively low number of HIV/Aids cases in China obscures the fact the virus has reached epidemic proportions in several provinces and is spreading rapidly elsewhere.
That warning - published yesterday in 'Aids Epidemic Update', an annual report from UNAids and the World Health Organisation - also said the number of cases in China was at the point where HIV infection could break out of narrow 'risk' groups and 'surge suddenly' in the mainstream.
'China's low national HIV prevalence obscures the fact that serious, concentrated epidemics have been under way for many years in certain regions [such as Yunnan, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Sichuan, Henan and Guangdong] and are poised to take off in several others,' the report stated.
It said the virus has spread throughout China's provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and the number of cases has risen 'significantly' in recent years. The report attributes this rise to an increase in the number of drug users who share contaminated needles, infrequent use of condoms among prostitutes and homosexuals, and infection spread indirectly through unsafe blood collection.
The report does not estimate the number of HIV-infected people in China. According to estimates from the Health Ministry, there were 840,000 people infected with the disease nationwide at the end of September. However, unofficial estimates put the number much higher, some claiming that the country's HIV and Aids populations could reach as high as 10 million by 2010 if the rate of infection remains unchecked.
The report said that in Beijing, 229 HIV carriers were diagnosed from January to September this year.
Most were migrant workers, local drug addicts, sex workers or homosexuals.
Statistics just released by the Guangdong provincial health bureau show that the province - one of those listed by the new report as having an Aids 'epidemic' - has reported 749 new cases of HIV infection in the first 10 months of this year. That represents about 16 per cent of the 4,532 cases reported since 1985.
However, experts have been quoted by the Information Daily newspaper as stating the real number in the province is more likely to be closer to 30,000.
Of the estimated 40 million people worldwide with Aids, around 7.4 million live in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the report. Across the region, HIV prevalence remains under 1 per cent of the adult population. But the report lists China, together with India and Indonesia, as three Asian countries at particular risk of Aids.
It said all three countries, which are home to 40 per cent of the world's population, were at the point where HIV infection could break out of narrow 'risk' groups and 'surge suddenly' into the mainstream.
