AIDS is spreading to the general population in Sichuan, health
officials said yesterday.
In the past decade, the percentage of people contracting the
disease through sex has increased more than seven times to 15
percent, they said.
Xu Baohua, an official with the Sichuan provincial department of
health's disease control and prevention section, told China
Daily: "It shows AIDS is spreading from high-risk groups to
ordinary people in the province."
He was speaking following the completion of a recent
investigation into the disease by the health department.
While AIDS was found mainly in high-risk groups such as drug
addicts and prostitutes 10 years ago, it is now being detected in
"pregnant women, government officials and young people who have
physical examinations in order to enrol in the army", Xu said.
The province's first AIDS case was reported in 1991 and involved
a person returning from abroad.
The number of HIV and AIDS cases is now more than 10,000, Xu
said.
"They are scattered across Sichuan's 160 counties and
districts," he said.
Zhang Linglin, chief of the province's sexually transmitted
disease and AIDS dispensary, said yesterday that early and casual
sex had increased the spread of HIV.
Zhang, who was involved in the health department's latest
investigation, said about 80 percent of the HIV carriers in Sichuan
were aged between 20 and 39.
"They are most likely to spread the virus because they are
sexually active," he said.
The investigation showed that of those who have sex at a very
young age or have multiple sex partners or engage in casual sex,
less than 50 percent used preventive measures.
Since the country embarked on its policy of reform and
opening-up in the late 1970s, tens of millions of farmers from the
province have flocked to cities to seek better-paying jobs.
"But quite a number of these do not use condoms or take other
preventive measures at all," Zhang said.
He said it is difficult to control the spread of AIDS if it is
transmitted from high-risk groups to the general population through
sex.
Unlike other contagious diseases, the HIV virus can exist in the
human body for a long time before it develops into full-blown
AIDS.
"But the virus can spread to lots of people during this period,"
said Zhang, who also urged the public to maintain a healthy
lifestyle.
In 1995, Sichuan enacted the country's first local ordinance
pertaining to the prevention of AIDS.
"Although Sichuan has done a good job in fighting the spread of
the disease and its numbers of HIV carriers and AIDs patients are
less than in many other provinces, it still has a long way to go as
there is no cure," Zhang said.
(China Daily November 27, 2007)