China reports increase in AIDS cases

The number of people in China testing positive for HIV grew by 369 in the first 3 months of 1997, reaching 6359, according to figures from the Ministry of Health. The ministry previously had reported that as of the end of October 1996, 5157 people in China were known to be infected with HIV. The government estimates, however, that the actual number of people infected with HIV is about 100,000. AIDS has spread rapidly in parts of China, and China is concerned about a threat from neighboring countries where the rate of infection is much higher, the China Daily quoted Vice Minister of Health Yin Dakui as saying at the opening of a conference on AIDS. China plans to set up a National Center for AIDS Control to provide guidance for AIDS research, Yin said.