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www.chinaview.cn 2005-09-02 09:11:35 BEIJING, Sept. 2 -- An increase in the number of people reported to be infected by HIV in Beijing is not a reason to sound the alarm bells about an AIDS outbreak, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said yesterday. "If you test more, you will always report more (infected cases)," Wiwat R, HIV/AIDS team leader of WHO Beijing Office, told China Daily yesterday. The capital detected 365 individuals infected by the virus in the first seven months of this year, according to figures released by the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau on Wednesday. The group included 11 foreigners, 65 Beijingers, 275 migrants from other provinces and regions. The identities were unclear for the 14 other HIV-infected people. That represents a significant increase of 53 per cent of HIV-positive people in Beijing over the corresponding period last year. Moreover, an increase of 42 per cent of AIDS patients has been reported in Beijing in the same period, according to the municipal health bureau. By July 31, Beijing had reported a total of 2,226 HIV-positive cases and 289 full-blown AIDS cases. Most of the infected people were from other provinces and regions, said Liang Wannian, deputy director of the bureau, adding that they were mainly infected through the sharing of contaminated hypodermic syringes, unprotected sex and transfusion of tainted blood. Wang also said statistics showed 119 of the infected people were foreigners. Unprotected sex is largely to blame. Raising people's awareness of the pandemic and requiring them to take preventive measures will be crucial, the WHO official said. Beijing is now home to two centres that use methadone, a medicine used as a substitute for heroin, to treat drug addicts in Xuanwu and Chaoyang districts. A third one will soon open in Haidian District. The city so far has 1,881 automatic condom dispensers at hotels, nightclubs, construction sites, medical facilities and universities and colleges in its 11 districts. A free needle exchange site at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Chaoyang District has collected around 1,600 contaminated syringes from drug addicts. Beijing You'an and Ditan hospitals, two facilities designated to provide cash-strapped patients with free AIDS treatment, have admitted 50 patients, according to the bureau. But Wu Hao, department director for infectious disease at the Beijing You'an Hospital, said yesterday that 50 more have benefited from the free medication, though he refused to release detailed figures. "Patients could know related policies through our website, outpatient department and many other channels," Wu said in a telephone interview. Nationwide, China has set up eight centres in five provinces to treat drug addicts with methadone. Wang Longde, vice-minister of health, said on Wednesday that prohibiting drug use is the key to curb the spread of the pandemic.Enditem (Source: China Daily) Xinhua |
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