China's Health Ministry releases HIV/AIDS data

As the world gets ready to mark World AIDS Day, which falls on Saturday, China's Ministry of Health has released the country's latest figures regarding the deadly virus. The data shows that the virus is concentrated in certain areas of the country, and is spreading fast among young people and the elderly.

According to China's Health Ministry, since the country's first case was detected in 1985 until October of this year, the number of reported HIV/AIDS cases stood at 492,191, of which 108,906 people died over the 27 year period.

But the WHO and UNAIDS put the actual number of people living with HIV/AIDS in China at 780,000.

The report said that sexual transmission was the main channel for HIV to spread, overtaking drug use and contaminated blood transfusions.

Sun Xinhua, Deputy Surveyor at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "Among new HIV cases from January to October of this year, nearly 86% of new infections came through sexual transmission. 21.1% came through homosexual transmission, a 6% increase from last year. And in medium sized and big cities, almost half of all new infections came through male to male sexual contact. "

The report also highlighted that specific areas of the country had higher infection rates than others, and that certain groups were more at risk of contracting the deadly virus.

Just nine provinces take up nearly 80% of the country's total infections.

Also alarming, is that infections are rising sharply among groups that were previously thought to be far removed from those most at risk.

Sun Xinhua said, "The number of infections among young people aged 15-24 years and those over 50, have seen sharp increases every year, rising 12.8% and 20.2% respectively. Teenagers and the elderly are the new high risk groups. "