Constant diarrhea, stomach ache for no apparent reason and a runny nose. These were some of the symptoms 22-year-old Hua Ying (pseudonym) was experiencing when she asked for a few days off from her university, to have a rest. She thought she had just caught a cold, or ate something bad. But none of the medicine she took was effective, and new symptoms appeared.
She felt muscular soreness all over her body and was extremely thirsty all the time. That's when she realized something was seriously wrong, and went to the hospital. Telling the doctor her symptoms, she was told to take an HIV test. The result was positive.
According to a Beijing Youth Daily report on August 12, Zhang Tong, director of the Infectious Diseases Center at Beijing's Youan Hospital, said HIV positive infections among young people between the ages of 14 and 20, is becoming more common. On World AIDS Day last year, Zhang's hospital organized free HIV tests in Sanlitun. Several hundred university students were tested and 10 percent of them tested positive for HIV.
Wu Zunyou, director at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in the report that by October 2014, provinces with more than 100 reported HIV infected students [university and middle school] had surpassed 10, including Beijing. "Thousands of young students get infected each year. Although the absolute figure is not very high, the spread of the disease among the youth is gaining momentum."
Promiscuous behavior
Hua, who was single, had never had a blood transfusion. The only possible way she could have contracted HIV was by having one-night stands with strangers. "I did it at most five times a year. Everyone looked healthy and energetic and most of the times I used a condom, except when having oral sex," she said.
Under too much strain, Hua said she thought about finding the person who infected her and killing him as revenge. "But it doesn't make any sense. Now my only hope is to live a long life since I'm so young," she said.
Ma Yi (pseudonym) celebrated his 21st birthday last week, but it did not make him happy, because he has been constantly worrying that it might have been his last birthday. In February he discovered two weird red spots on his foreskin. He went to the hospital and was told he had syphilis.
"I was scared to death. But it was really nothing compared to the second laboratory test report I received," said Ma. "That was an HIV positive notice, which was like a death sentence to me."
Usually people who test positive for a sexually transmitted disease such as syphilis, genital warts and herpes, are advised to be tested for HIV too, which is what Ma did, although he did not show any signs of the disease.
Upon receiving the diagnosis, Ma disappeared from class for a week, travelling to another city where he contemplated committing suicide. "I did not know how to face my classmates and my parents. It's better to die in an 'accident' than die from AIDS."
He eventually returned to Beijing and began to educate himself about the disease. He also started systematic medical treatment.
"I am young and have my whole life ahead of me. I think this is retribution for my promiscuous life," said Ma, who had sex for the first time when he was in junior high school.
He lives in a rented house off campus in Beijing and usually brought home girls from university, night clubs or ones he met on the Internet. "I am not the only one who behaves like this," said Ma. "I remember when I was in high school, there were others in my class who were not virgins."
The National Health and Family Planning Commission released a report on the state of the Chinese families on May 13. The report was based on a survey of over 32,500 families in 31 provinces and cities in China. According to the findings, the average age of first time sex is 15.9 years old, but only 26.7 percent of them used contraceptives.
Additionally, the report pointed out that about three fifths of teenagers aged between 14 and 17 did not know about contraceptive methods.
"Since information technology is highly developed, socializing with strangers is becoming extremely popular," said Peng Xiaohui, a sexologist at the Wuhan-based Central China Normal University. "Students are becoming more open, with multiple sexual partners, which has become an irresistible trend. It's impossible to constrain them and convince them to return to conservative, traditional ethics and norms."
