Over two lakh people died in China this year due to HIV/AIDS

Over two lakh people have died in China due to HIV/AIDS this year with 94 per cent of them contracting the disease due to sexual transmission, according to official figures released.

About 6.54 lakh people are fighting the disease which showed signs of increase among the youth, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, adding that more transmissions among young and senior males have been noted.

From January to September, 2,321 students, aged between 15 to 24 tested positive for HIV/AIDS, 4.1 times more than in 2010.

In addition, 13,000 men aged above 60 discovered they were carrying the virus, 3.6 times that of 2010, it said.

About 96,000 new cases in total were reported in the first nine months, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

In the same period, heterosexual sexual transmission accounted for 66.7 per cent of all cases, and homosexual activities accounted for 27.5 per cent of transmissions, said the CDC, adding that mother-to-child and intravenous drug infection rates were low.

In 2015, more than 32,000 men were reported to be infected with the virus through homosexual activities. The number was 7,675 in 2010.

Also, the number of people having received AIDS/HIV treatment has increased almost seven times in the past six years in the volatile Xinjiang province which was caught in spiral violence in the last few years.

More than 20,000 people living with AIDS/HIV had received treatment in Xinjiang as of September this year, it said.

Xinjiang has 39,840 people living with HIV/AIDS, and the number of designated hospitals for antiretroviral treatment in the region rose from 48 in 2010 to 92 in 2016.