Abstract

PIP:

By December 1993, 1243 people from 21 of China's 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions had been reported to China's Ministry of Public Health as being HIV-seropositive. 36 of these individuals had AIDS, of whom 19 had histories of IV drug use and 7 contracted the infection through sexual contact. 34 of the people with AIDS were male. Of the reported cases of HIV infection, 827 were drug users, 333 were foreign nationals who had returned to China, and 12 were men and women who had had extramarital sex. There were only 3 homosexual men and 5 STD patients. 79.7% of reported HIV infections were from Yunnan Province, 6.0% from Guangdong Province, 4.7% from Beijing, and 3.1% from Shanghai municipalities. While IV drug use is currently the dominant mode of HIV transmission, especially to the south, heterosexual transmission is expected to dominate elsewhere in the country. A Ministry of Public Health study predicts, in a medium scenario of HIV transmission, there will be 80,000-100,000 people with HIV and 10,000-25,000 people with AIDS in China by 2000. There will be significant medical costs and loss of productivity as a result of these high levels of infection, disease, and eventual mortality. The authors briefly discuss prevention and control and the government response.