Villagers in Northeastern China Contracted AIDS by Selling Blood, Group Says

Dozens of villagers in northeastern China have contracted AIDS by selling blood and at least 20 have died, a Hong Kong- based human rights organization said today. Blood tests of 62 villagers from Soudengzhan in Jilin province are HIV-positive, and another 300 people may be infected, said the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. The group alleges that Chinese officials at various levels have covered up the infections to protect Liu Baozhong, party secretary of Soudengzhan, who has been singled out for praise by former President Jiang Zemin. "It is because of this that officials have covered up this serious matter," said Frank Lu, who runs the rights organization. In Henan in central China, thousands of people were infected with HIV through an unsanitary blood-buying industry in the 1990s.

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