A new outbreak of HIV/AIDS has surfaced in northeastern China's Jilin Province where up to 300 villagers could be infected with AIDS after donating blood at government blood stations, villagers and a rights group said yesterday.
"Right now there are three or four villages that have AIDS," an official at Soudeng Township in Jilin city said by phone.
He refused to estimate how many people in the area had been infected by the virus that causes AIDS, but the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said that up to 300 people could be infected.
"My uncle was infected with AIDS and died yesterday morning. My mother and father also have AIDS," Huang Rui, a villager in Liujiatun village said.
So far in Soudeng some 62 people have died from AIDS, which is believed to have been transmitted from unsanitary government blood stations in the early 1990s.
The outbreak was only confirmed in June, but people had been dying from undetermined diseases starting in 2000, said Wu Shuhuan, a villager in Erdaogou village.
"Up to now seven or eight people have died in our village, they all had donated blood. Our village is pretty poor so a lot of people were donating blood," Wu said.
The government opened up a blood collection station in 1985, but shut it down in 1994, she said, indicating that those with AIDS initially got it from selling blood.
A large number of the estimated up to 840,000 HIV/AIDS patients in China have contracted the disease through tainted blood or unsanitary blood donation stations, with the worst affected areas in central Anhui and Henan Province.
Local officials in Jilin only confirmed the outbreak in Soudeng Township in June this year, and have been testing to see how many people contracted AIDS from selling blood and how many contracted it after coming into contact with those that sold blood, Wu said.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
RSS