China AIDS Victim Uses Internet to Help Others

The Web site of a Chinese AIDS patient, which acts as a forum for growing numbers of people seeking advice on how to handle HIV/AIDS, has been publicized just days before a key conference on the disease. The site of AIDS patient Xiao Cai can be found at http://aidscare.netsh.net and features hundreds of messages posted by people trying to come to terms with the disease. The site's archives suggest it was established around three years ago, but the state-run Xinhua news agency said on Monday it was launched ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1.

On the site, Xiao responds to a wide range of questions -- from the general symptoms of HIV to other more complex ones like suitable medicines for patients. In one anonymous message, a person admits to committing "highly dangerous acts" -- typically meaning visits to prostitutes -- and to deep fears that he has contracted HIV despite testing negative six times. "From my own analysis of my unidentifiable symptoms in the last six months, I cannot think of any reason other than HIV so I want to ask everyone if you have had the same symptoms," the person wrote on a public message board along with a lengthy description of symptoms.

China is making slow progress in dealing with the disease, which is still considered taboo, and has acknowledged that large swathes of population know alarmingly little about it. In a rare admission of the problem, the government said in August that reported HIV infections had surged 67.4 percent to 3,541 in the first half of 2001. The nation's first AIDS/STD conference will be held in Beijing Nov. 13-16.

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