In the dark about safe sex: HIV/Aids spreads among China’s elderly
- Cases up by more than 130 per cent in five years among men aged 60 and over, report says
HIV and Aids infection rates are rising among elderly Chinese, due to a lack of understanding about safe sex and a reluctance to discuss it with doctors, a Shanghai-based online news outlet reported on Tuesday.
“More and more elderly people are being infected,” Thepaper.cn quoted a Hangzhou Disease Control and Prevention Centre official as saying.
“The biggest reason is that the elderly lack awareness of self-protection and do not know much about Aids. They are not used to using condoms and are uncomfortable going to the doctor about this.”
Medical staff at the centre said the earlier the virus was detected, the better the treatment prospects but elderly people were more likely to report the disease at a later stage and so had a greater risk of dying from HIV/Aids.
The centre urged people to get tested if they have ever had an extramarital affair, had gay sex, or thought their partner had.