The number of new HIV/AIDS cases reported in Beijing in the
first half of the year was almost as high as the total for 2006, a
spokesman for the Beijing Association of STD and AIDS Prevention
and Control said yesterday.
Guan Baoying, deputy director of the association, said 563 new
cases had been reported in the first six months, taking the total
in the capital to more than 4,200.
The number of new HIV/Aids cases being reported in Beijing has
been growing by an average of 50 percent a year, he said.
Of the 563 cases - screened from 770,000 HIV checkups - 432 (77
percent) were migrant workers, 120 (21 percent) were Beijingers,
and the rest were foreigners, the Beijing News reported
yesterday.
Since 1985, 164 foreigners have tested positive for HIV in
Beijing, Guan said.
Drug use and unsafe sex were the two top causes of this year's
new infections, and considerably more men than women tested
positive, he said.
Guan warned of the dangers of having unsafe sex and said the
widespread migration of people across the country was aiding the
spread of the virus.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health said 18,543 new cases
of HIV/AIDS were reported nationwide in the first half of the year,
with drug users accounting for the majority.
Guan said there are an estimated 650,000 people living with
HIV/AIDS in China, although, as of July, only 214,300 have been
officially registered.
(China Daily September 21, 2007)