More than 300 new AIDS patients and HIV carriers have been detected in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province in South China, in the first seven months this year, according to a senior official from the Guangzhou Municipal Public Health Bureau yesterday.

The figure represents an increase of more than 100 percent from the same period last year.

Most of Guangzhou's AIDS patients are men and drug addicts. Some contract AIDS during casual sexual activities and blood transfusions.

To help prevent the fatal disease from spreading throughout the city, officials have urged local residents and tourists to keep away from drugs and casual sex.

The official, who preferred to remain anonymous, also promised to expand annual investment to fight AIDS.

More than 8.3 million yuan (US$1 million) will be spent this year.

This includes 1.3 million yuan (US$156,000) to promote AIDS prevention, 7 million yuan (US$843,300) to import new and advanced AIDS testing and treatment facilities and purchase medicine.

Meanwhile local deputies of the People's Congress and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, have recently jointly suggested to the Guangzhou municipal government to build an AIDS treatment and care center to help handle the city's sharp increase in AIDS patients and HIV carriers, the officials said.

The center will offer medical services as well as consultations to AIDS patients.

The number of AIDS patients and HIV carriers has seen an average annual increase of more than 80 percent.

By the end of 2001, there were more than 600 AIDS patients and HIV carriers in the southern Chinese metropolis that detected its first AIDS patient in 1986.

Of them, 80 were AIDS patients and 520 HIV carriers, making Guangzhou the city with the third largest population in Guangdong of HIV/AIDS patients.

Guangdong has become the fourth province with the largest population for HIV/AIDS patients in the country that has more than 600,000 AIDS patients and HIV carriers.

Yunnan Province in Southwest China is the worst HIV/AIDS hit region. It is followed by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region which borders Guangdong Province.

Lack of capital and local anti-AIDS awareness has contributed to the sharp growth of HIV/AIDS patients in Guangzhou in recent years, the official added.

(China Daily August 17, 2002)