China's Rising Economy Is Also Bringing Rising HIV/AIDS Cases

Shenzhen -- Shenzhen, a boomtown in south China's Guangdong Province, registered 496 HIV/AIDS cases in the first three quarters of the year. The statistics represent a rise of 40 percent on the same period last year, according to the Shenzhen City Center for Disease Control (CDC). Most of the victims were aged between 30 and 40. The killer virus was mainly spread via shared syringes among drug addicts, homosexuals and even heterosexual partners. The city CDC said that eight couples who recently applied for marriage licenses had been diagnosed with HIV. China's Ministry of Health said Wednesday that the number of HIV infections nationwide has risen 27.5 percent since the beginning of the year. By the end of October, a total of 183,733 people were officially reported to have contracted HIV, 39,644 more than at the end of 2005. As China continues to expand it's economy and infrastructure, more Chinese people in historically isolated and rural areas will begin to come in contact with more people. Highways, paved roads, China's astronomical production and consuming of cars, and a travel industry built around gas, will continue to bring more of China's 1.3 billion citizens in contact with each other and dramatically increase the rate of HIV/AIDS transmission. China, a Communist country, is always slow to respond to social problems and without proper education, HIV/AIDS early interventions, and without the full support of a Communist government, HIV/AIDS has the potential to become another Africa.