CDC Report Examines HIV/AIDS in Chinese Province

A report by Chinese and U.S. researchers released last week in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report examined the spread of HIV in China's Guangdong province, Reuters reports. The team of researchers -- from CDC and the Guangdong Center for Disease Control -- said that 82.1% of new HIV cases among men in Guangdong occurred through injection drug use, while 53.7% of HIV-positive women had "engaged in high-risk heterosexual contact" (Fox, Reuters, 4/24). According to the report, injection drug use was the most common mode of transmission over the period 1997 to 2007, but new infections attributable to injection drug use declined from 2005 to 2007 while those related to high-risk heterosexual contact increased (MMWR, 4/24). The researchers said that the findings "might suggest a shift in Guangdong's HIV epidemic similar to the national trend, in which heterosexual transmission was the main transmission category in China in 2007." The researchers added, "Migrant women who lack appropriate job skills or who seek to supplement the family income might become sex workers, and migrant men living apart from their spouses might become clients of sex workers."

The researchers also said they found a sharp increase in the number of HIV cases in the decade between 1997 and 2007, which they said is likely because of improved surveillance. They noted that 4,593 people in Guangdong were found to be living with HIV in 2007, compared with 102 cases in 1997, when there was little surveillance (Reuters, 4/24).

The report is available online.

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