Yunnan battles new strain of HIV

Authorities in China's southwestern border region are employing a wide range of measures to prevent an outbreak of a previously unknown form of the virus, as Yang Wanli reports.

On Feb 29, 2008, a convoy of long-distance trucks crossed into China from Myanmar. The drivers lined up at the customs house in Jiegao, a border town in southwestern Yunnan province, for a regular HIV/AIDS test, and each was asked to provide 2 to 3 milliliters of blood.

One sample, provided by a 40-year-old driver from Myanmar, was found to be positive for antibodies of HIV - human immunodeficiency virus - but they were unlike any seen before, leading researchers to suspect that it was a previously unknown strain of the virus.