Number of HIV/AIDS infection on the rise in Xiamen

 A gay, wearing women's clothing and earrings, sit at a gay bar in Xiamen. The HIV infection rate

is surging among the MSM (men having sex with men) population in recent years.

AIDS is spreading rapidly among high-risk groups as the number of people with HIV/AIDS is on the rise in Xiamen, according to statistics released by the Xiamen Health Bureau at an AIDS control meeting on Monday.

As of the end of October, a total of 144,673 serum samples collected from high-risk groups had been tested by the city’s disease control institutions and medical institutions at all levels.

The results show that the number of people with HIV/AIDS in Xiamen in 2009 has been on the rise compared with that in previous years. It is now a critical period to control the disease, according to the meeting.

It is worth noting that sexual transmission has become the primary means of HIV infection in the city. Heterosexual contact accounts for more than 60% of all the HIV/AIDS cases detected in the city.

However, the HIV infection rate is surging among the MSM (men having sex with men) population in recent years. The infection rate among this group is about 50 times higher than in the normal population according to a preliminary statistics.

China has 560,000 to 920,000 people infected by the HIV virus and 97,000 to 112,000 AIDS patients by the end of 2009, according to estimates by the Ministry of Health and the UNAIDS.

Translated by WOXnews.com

SOURCE Link: Xiamen Economic Daily