HIV rises sharply among Beijing gay community  

北京艾滋病患者男同超七成 性传播是感染首要途径

(ECNS) -- More than 95% of newly discovered HIV cases so far this year in Beijing were sexually transmitted, with over 70% involving gay men, according to statistics issued by the city's Health and Family Planning Commission on Thursday.

The proportion of newly discovered HIV cases in the city involving the gay community rose sharply from 22.8% in 2006 to 73.5% by October 31 this year.

The accumulated number of reported HIV cases in the capital has reached 18,635 since the first case was reported in China during 1985. Of these, 3,935 were permanent residents of the city, accounting for 21.1% of the total.

A large number of cases involved non-permanent residents, which makes intervention tougher and more complex, said Gao Xiaojun, an official with Beijing Health and Family Planning Commission. He added that some of these were not being diagnosed early enough, increasing the risk of infecting others.

According to the commission, 18% of all HIV diagnoses in Beijing had already progressed to AIDS.

To prevent and control the epidemic, Beijing has this year conducted training for 196,000 health workers. City authorities examined 2.57 million blood samples between January and October, with over 73% of newly registered cases discovered through screening.