China has 20,786 AIDS patients: Ministry

But estimates of a far greater number of still unknown carriers present a huge challenge in quelling the deadly epidemic in China.

More than 20,000 new HIV positive cases have been officially reported in China since 2002, but estimates of a far greater number of still unknown carriers present a huge challenge in quelling the deadly epidemic.

The number of officially reported HIV positive cases in China has now climbed to 89,067 including 20,786 AIDS patients, the Ministry of Health said in a report released yesterday on the occasion of World Aids Day.

The new numbers, which are through September of this year, may vastly understate the extent of China's AIDS and HIV problem, however. Both China and the United Nations estimated last year that as many as 840,000 HIV carriers exist in the country.

That figure is based on estimates that .07 per cent of the population is likely infected, with the disease spreading rapidly. Yet the true extent of the problem is still unknown, Xinhua news agency reported.

A major reason for the sharp increase in reported cases since 2002 is enhanced HIV screening among commercial blood and plasma donors in Central China's Henan Province and among intravenous drug abusers in Yunnan Province, Southwest China.

Henan finished a review this year among 280,000 commercial blood donors from the early 1990s, and 25,000 HIV/AIDS carriers were discovered.

Since the increase only refers to the reported infections from the 1990s, it cannot be a basis upon which to judge the ongoing expansion of the epidemic in the country, said Qi Xiaoqiu, director of the Disease Control Department of the Ministry of Health.

The exact expansion rate of the deadly disease is still unknown, he told China Daily when the report was released, but experts say the expansion rate is likely more than 30 per cent annually.