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January 24, 2010)
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(AFP) 21 January, 2010
BEIJING — At least 80
hospital patients in central China were infected with HIV through contaminated
blood, according to a state media report that highlighted the continuing impact
of a 1990s blood-selling scandal.
The patients at the No. 2
Hospital in
It said the blood-sellers
were believed to have been infected earlier in neighbouring
Many people in central
The infections in Daye
have received attention recently after one patient tested positive for HIV in
September and contested the amount of compensation offered by the hospital, the
report said.
Doctors at the Daye
hospital were unaware that the blood was contaminated when it was given to
patients, it said.
Some of the 80 victims
then passed the virus on to their wives or children, which brought the total
number of infected to around 100, according to the report.
Xu Chunyang, the
hospital's deputy director who was quoted by the paper as the source of the
report, would not confirm the figures when contacted by AFP.
"We can still not
determine (how many were infected)," he said, refusing further comment.
The blood-selling scandal
was initially covered up by local officials, some of whom were actively involved
in it.
But the government
revealed in 2001 that 30,000 to 50,000 people may have been infected with HIV
through the scheme.
Experts, however, put the
number at 100,000, while the true figure may be far higher.
An official from the
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All
rights reserved.
Despite periodic state
crackdowns, increasing education and debate are bringing
It's a peculiarly Chinese
way of dealing with things, the last-minute cancellation. Now
It's easy to see why the
Chinese gay rights movement has been left wondering just where it stands.
Homosexuality was only removed from the state-approved list of mental illnesses
in 2001, and since the government has broadly taken a laissez-faire approach to
the issue. While
Yet last year, something
seemed to change. In April, the state-run China Daily, the country's largest
English-language newspaper, splashed a picture of a gay couple marrying close to
And there were more signs
that senior officials were keen to, if not promote, at least educate Chinese
people about gay rights. I was asked by an editor at one of
So why the sudden change?
One reason could be to address
Chinese forums are awash
with the debate, another sign that things may be changing. One poster even joked
that tóng xìng (same-sex) relationships could be the answer to the country's
lopsided boy-to-girl ratio. It is estimated that by 2020 around 24m Chinese men
of marrying age will be without spouses.
When the owner of a bar
announced to me a few months ago that he was rebranding his establishment as a
gay club, it was not a political but a financial statement. But it was also a
sign that going gay can bring financial incentives in the city's
hyper-competitive bar and club scene. As ever in
Yet still, as events on
Friday showed, there is a strong enough reactionary presence within the party to
clamp down on what it sees as politically sensitive. The cancellation will serve
as a warning that while homosexuality is now tolerated, the government continues
to have the final say on what is and what isn't allowed to be publicly promoted.
For the time being
The sites can put
would-be-mothers in danger of contracting infections including HIV and
hepatitis, because they do not screen sperm after it has been donated, they
said.
Low donor number are also
leading women to travel abroad, to fertility clinics which may also be lax about
protecting patients, said Dr Allan Pacey, from the University of Sheffield.
The British
Fertility Society believes that 500 donors are needed at any one time to help
couples undergoing fertility treatment.
At the moment fewer than
are 400 registered.
Changes in the law in
2005, which removed donors’ rights to anonymity, have led to a drop in the
number of men coming forward.
The Human Fertility and
Embryology Authority, the Government’s fertility watchdog, admits there is a
problem and is currently considering whether to reform the law to allow donors
to be paid for their services.
Currently fertility
clinics have to freeze and quarantine sperm for six months and then test
donations for infection.
Dr Pacey said: “These
fresh sperm delivery services just full me with horror.
“There is no way on
earth that they can guarantee they are infection free when they do not
quarantine sperm at all.”
The services work by
linking patients and donors but get around regulations by insisting that they
are merely "agents" who do not deal directly with sperm.
Dr Pacey said that women
travelling abroad to unregulated fertility clinics could face similar risks.
He said: “If you go
abroad you have to worry about screening and whether or not you are going to be
exposed to HIV, hepatitis, Chlamydia, gonorrhoea and so forth.”
Susan Seenan, from
Infertility Network
“We are also concerned
that others may be purchasing fresh sperm online for DIY insemination.”
Online 'fresh' sperm banks
can charge as little as £400 a time.