A woman who says her life was ruined after she was incorrectly diagnosed with HIV is suing two government-run medical centers in Henan Province for 750,000 yuan (US$112,663) in compensation.

Li Xiuqin, 46, a native of Henan Province, said it never occurred to her that a blood test would turn her life upside down in such a way.

The Luyi County Center for Disease Prevention and Control told Li she was HIV positive after a blood test in the summer of 2004. The result was confirmed by a higher-level center in Zhoukou City and doctors said she was probably infected when she sold her blood, as is the practice in some poorer communities, the Orient Today reported yesterday.

Li's life changed rapidly after the diagnosis, the newspaper said. Friends and other villagers who were worried about getting infected with the disease no longer wanted anything to do with Li. Her husband and son left home and took all of the family's savings. Li attempted suicide on two occasions, the newspaper reported.

In June this year, Li's husband returned home and suggested that Li have another blood test as she looked surprisingly healthy for someone who had been diagnosed with the virus so long ago.

Li went to a hospital in Zhengzhou City, the provincial capital of Henan, to have her blood checked and was told that she did not have HIV.

The couple went to Beijing to have another blood test and doctors there confirmed she did not have HIV, according to the newspaper report.

Li filed a lawsuit in August against both the Luyi County Center for Disease Control and Prevention and its counterpart in Zhoukou.

In the lawsuit she demands compensation for mental suffering.