The traditional but disputable practice of barring hepatitis virus carriers from becoming civil servants has been put to an end in southwest China's Guizhou Province, a government press conference has heard.

According to government officials, virus carriers could take the provincial civil service examination and could be recruited if they passed the exam on condition that they have retained normal liver function.

It is a long but controversial practice in China that government agencies may reject job applicants who have contracted hepatitis. In a rare case, Zhou Yichao, a hepatitis carrier, killed an official in east Zhejiang Province who refused to consider him for a public servant job despite being qualified. Zhou was executed for murder in early April.

Before Guizhou's improvement, central China's Henan Province lifted the ban on hiring non-infectious hepatitis B carriers in a move seen as a major progress in removing discriminatory hiring practices.

The Hunan provincial government stipulated that hepatitis B carriers, for the first time, should be employed by government agencies.

Statistics show that 120 million Chinese people, a number equivalent to the total population of France and Britain combined, are chronic carriers of the disease. Many of them show no symptoms and do not pose a threat to their co-workers.

Hepatitis B is spread through the exchange of bodily fluids, such as contaminated blood, unprotected sex, shared needles and infected mother-to-newborn contact. It cannot be contracted through casual contact, experts said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2004)