HIV and AIDS infection rates are rising among the elderly in China, particularly due to reluctance discussing the disease with doctors and a lack of understanding about safe sex. A report released on Tuesday revealed Chinese men aged 60 and above were seen to have the biggest increase in infection, wherein new HIV/AIDS cases up 136 percent over the past five years from 8,391 in 2012 to 19,815 in 2017
The reason why the majority of Chinese elderly are being infected with HIV/AIDS is that they lack awareness regarding self-control and they do not have enough knowledge about the disease, a Hangzhou Disease Control and Prevention Centre official said. Additionally, they aren't also comfortable using condoms, and they don't talk about this matter to their doctor.
According to medical staff at the center, treatment prospects will be better if the virus will be detected earlier. However, a lot of elderly people usually report the disease when it's already at the later stage, increasing their risk of dying from HIV/AIDS. The center also urged people to get tested if ever they had gay sex, extramarital affair, or if they suspected their partner being infected.
Chinese officials said in September the number of HIV cases increased 14 percent nationwide compare with 2017, the South China Morning Post reported. Government figures show China has over 100,000 new infections each year and the majority of the cases transmitted through unprotected sex than blood transfusions - another major source of HIV/AIDS infection.
The report also revealed AIDS cases among elderly in Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang province increased by half in three years. Although younger people accounted for most of the province with 4,413 reported HIV/Aids cases, the increasing number of infection among the elderly is considered significant.
Elderly men usually become infected through extramarital affairs and gay sex, while elderly women contract the virus through their male partners. A woman in Hangzhou, whose in her sixties and widowed for a decade, has found she was HIV positive after a tumor was discovered in her uterus. She reportedly became infected after having sex with a man who had used prostitutes.
HIV/AIDS has no cure and can only be managed through antiretroviral medication. In China, government data shows about 820,000 people are estimated to have the disease. The virus entered the mainland in 1982, and it still carries a huge stigma in Chinese society until now.
And just this week, the virus has been back in the news following the claim of He Jiankui that twin girls were born from embryos modified to switch off an HIV-related gene. But some scientists criticized his project, noting DNA changes can be passed to future generations, increasing harm to other genes.
