HIV count rises 50 pct in past year
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-28 21:49

"The HIV virus is now spreading from high-risk groups to the general population, and we're at a crucial stage in fighting and treating AIDS," Wang said. His comments were carried on a Chinese government Web site as the country prepares for World AIDS Day on Thursday.

The infection rate among prostitutes rose from 2 in 10,000 in 1996 to 93 in 10,000 in 2004, Wang said. And in "high-prevalence" areas, such as the rural central province of Henan, 0.26 percent of pregnant women were found to have HIV.

During the 1990s, many Chinese -- especially in Henan -- contracted the virus through contaminated blood transfusions,

This was a time when cash-hungry peasants sold their blood to professional blood buyers, often accredited by local health agencies or the military. The blood was pooled, plasma extracted for hospital use and the remainder returned to the donors, meaning that one infected person passed the disease to others.

But now 40.8 percent of the confirmed cases came through intravenous drug injections, Wang said, nine percent through sexual transmission, 23 percent through blood selling, and 23.4 percent were of uncertain origin, Wang said.