Gay sex drives up China's HIV/AIDS infections: expert

With an increase in the number of reported HIV/AIDS cases in China, gay sex has accounted for 25 per cent of the total infections this year, officials said.
During the first eight months this year, HIV transmissions among MSM (men having sex with men) accounted for 25 per cent of China's total reported new infections, according to Wang Ning, deputy head of the HIV/AIDS division of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2012, the figure was 19 per cent.
The transmission channel for the disease has changed in recent years, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Between 1985 and 2005, infections were mainly attributed to intravenous drug use and illegal blood collection and supply. Sexual transmission only took up around 10 per cent, Wang said.

In 2012, about 87 per cent of patients were infected through sex contact.

The figure rose to more than 90 per cent from January to August 2014, he said.
MSM has been recognised worldwide as one of the three groups most vulnerable to HIV infections, along with sex workers and drug users, it said.
In China, about 80 per cent of MSM are married, which means the disease may also spread to their spouses.