Average age of patients is falling, according to statistics

The incidence of HIV/AIDS among the male gay population in China has been rising rapidly. This year, in large northern cities such as Beijing, Changchun in Jilin province, and Harbin in Heilongjiang province, nearly 80 percent of newly detected cases involved gay men, according to the latest official statistics.

Nationally, the proportion of newly detected cases involving gay men this year is more than 30 percent, and the surge has been particularly noticeable among younger students, said Zhao Yan, deputy director of the AIDS Treatment and Care Division of the National Center for AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control and Prevention.

By the end of October, China had seen nearly 2,200 cases of HIV that involved students aged 15 and older, compared with 1,722 last year, according to Zhao. Ten provinces have reported more than 100 cases involving students this year, compared with five in 2013.