HIV Continues to Spread in China: Health Authority

A nurse prepares to collect blood from a donor during a volunteer blood donation campaign to mark World AIDS Day in Chengdu, China, on Dec. 1, 2005. China Photos/Getty Images

In the wake of the ongoing outbreak of respiratory contagious disease, multiple Chinese officials released data showing that AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) infection rates are increasing, adding to the complexity of China’s epidemic.

AIDS is a highly lethal infectious disease caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). The virus can devastate the body’s immune system, leaving patients vulnerable to other infections and illnesses, even promoting malignant tumors. HIV spreads through blood, semen, breast milk, and other bodily fluids.

Medical experts said sexual promiscuity and contaminated blood transfusions are the primary causes of the rise of AIDS cases in China. Meanwhile, AIDS patients may develop flu-like symptoms, which would complicate diagnosis during the current respiratory epidemic in China. Additionally, contaminated blood tests or blood transfusions in hospitals may exacerbate HIV transmission from AIDS patients to others.

China’s National Health Commission released new data saying there are a total of 1,223,000 individuals infected with HIV, with 107,000 newly added cases in 2022 alone—of which 72.0 percent were heterosexual transmitted and 25.6 percent between homosexual males.  Moreover, “it is conservatively estimated that 15–20 percent of infections remain undetected,” the top health body said at the end of November.

Authorities in various regions ramped up efforts in response to the AIDS spike. More surveillance sites and testing labs for HIV have been set up in Guangdong that have conducted approximately 20.13 million HIV tests from January to October, a 10.5 percent increase from last year’s figures, according to a Dec. 1 Chinese state media report on Yicai.

In China’s eastern coastal Jiangsu province, as of the end of October, there were 42,021 HIV-infected cases and 5,971 deaths. The provincial disease watchdog said from January to October, over 52 percent of the newly reported HIV-positive persons are same-sex transmission.

Shanghai has seen a total of 1,457 cases of HIV infection from Jan. 1 to Nov. 20 this year, up 21.1 percent from the same period in 2022. The city’s health authority had reported a total of 30,859 cases of HIV infection and 2,951 deaths.

People receive medical attention in a Fever Clinic area in a Hospital in the Changning district in Shanghai, on Dec. 23, 2022 Hector Retamal /AFP via Getty Images

AIDS Growth in Adolescents and Elderly Farmers: Official Report

The number of HIV cases among young students is on the rise. Data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows a total of 10,700 HIV-infected cases were reported among teens aged 15–24 in 2022, a three-fold increase from the year prior. Of these cases, 82.5 percent were transmitted through sexual contact.

Shaanxi Provincial CDC released a list of the top 25 high schools in the province with the highest number of HIV infections. State-owned Northwestern University of Political Science and Law in Xi’an topped the ranking with 19 cases. Out of those cases, 93.7 percent of infections were caused by sexual contact. The university was initially created by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1937 in Yanan.

Besides youth, a Nov. 10 Chinese CDC report indicated that HIV cases among people above the age of 60 have also jumped in recent years, with the number being 27,004 in 2022, a 1.5-fold increase from 17,451 in 2015. The report said such cases were mainly distributed among older farmers in the municipality of Chongqing, and the provinces or regions of Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Xinjiang.

AIDS growth is partly due to the result of sexual promiscuity, U.S. virologist Sean Lin told The Epoch Times. “The CCP regime has destroyed beliefs in divine and traditional values that are rooted in the Chinese society, replacing them with communist ideology, and eroding people’s hearts and minds.”

In addition, some AIDS patients have been victimized because of their lack of knowledge or because of their lack of unawareness of their being infected with HIV.

“CCP officials have never cared about people’s lives and have long been hiding the truth about AIDS in China,” Mr. Lin said. “Quite a few Chinese people have no idea of the danger of AIDS.”

Infection Through Blood Transfusion

Contaminated blood is another reason that has caused the surge in AIDS in China. “There has always been collusion between blood stations and suppliers, plus unregulated blood collection in China,” he said.

A group of Chinese farmers queue up at a local clinic to get their supply of free AIDS medication in Wenlou village, China's Henan province, on Feb. 21, 2004. STR/AFP via Getty Images

As an example, Mr. Lin said that large-scale blood donors contracted HIV through contaminated blood transfusion at blood stations in the central province of Henan. Most of those donors were farmers living in poor rural areas and fell victim to a campaign of earning money by donating blood plasma that was launched by the Henan government from 1991 to 1995.

Gao Yaojie, a Chinese gynecologist and AIDS activist now living in exile in New York, told The Epoch Times on Oct. 12, 2010, “In 1995, HIV was discovered in the blood samples at Henan Province’s collection centers, patronized by about five million people.”

The Henan authorities later revoked the blood stations but concealed the reasons. “That blood was then transferred to other locations; many individuals who received HIV-infected blood, but were unaware of it at the time, may have subsequently infected others. This infection has been spreading covertly to this day,” Mr. Lin said.

Even if Chinese hospitals misuse contaminated blood products, it is hard for an HIV-infected patient to pursue responsibility, he said, as AIDS does not necessarily exhibit symptoms in patients on-site. Furthermore, hospitals usually require a waiver of liability before a blood transfusion.

In this undated photo, retired doctor Gao Yaojie, 74, (R) applies medicine to a villager's arm as she helps people from neglected AIDS villages in the central China province of Henan. STR/AFP via Getty Images

“It is estimated that there are 10 million AIDS patients in China, but Chinese authorities have been covering it up well.” Ms. Gao said in 2010, many times larger than the official figure. The Epoch Times is not able to confirm this estimate.

“How many people are living with HIV in China has been a state secret of the CCP,” Mr. Lin said.