The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Shenzhen has remained stable and is on the decline. The average annual growth rate of HIV/AIDS cases in the last five years has been negative 2 percent, the Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday, a day before World AIDS Day.
In the first 10 months of 2021, the city reported 1,678 new HIV/AIDS cases, specifically 1,101 HIV infections and 577 AIDS cases, with 21 deaths reported.
Among new cases, 18 percent of infected patients have Shenzhen permanent residence permits, while the other 82 percent are temporary residents. The average age of people first testing HIV positive is 34.4 years old, the oldest is 80 and the youngest is 1.
Nearly 99.2 percent of newly reported infections were sexually transmitted, with 65.4 percent through same-sex sexual contact.
As of Oct. 31, there were 16,002 surviving AIDS cases in Shenzhen, with the longest one being treated for more than 25 years.
The number of newly reported cases has increased year on year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, compared to the same period in 2019, the number dropped by 2.2 percent, while the number of antibody screenings went up by 3.6 percent.
The numbers of male-to-male sexual transmission cases accounted for more than 60 percent in both this year’s newly reported cases and existing surviving cases. Young men aged 20 to 50 make up 80.7 percent of the cases, much higher than the national and provincial averages.
As of Oct. 31, there had also been 29 student cases reported, all of whom are males infected sexually and 25 of them are college students.
The proportion of case reports for middle-aged and elderly adults 50 and above is basically the same as previous years, data
from Shenzhen CDC showed.
No local mother-to-child transmission has been reported and no blood transfusion transmission reported for eight straight years.
According to Shenzhen CDC, as of October 2021, the city had 233 HIV testing locations, volunteer counseling and testing sites, and self-testing service terminals.