Ex-official Chen Bingzhong, who suffers from terminal liver cancer, has issued a letter calling on the government to come clean about a blood selling scandal that infected up to 100,000 people with HIV in the 1990s (an estimate that, if correct, would make up over 1/7 of all infections to date.) Distributed by the Beijing Aizhixing Institute, the letter pushes for an open investigation into the incident where villagers in Henan were infected via donation and transfusion practices between 1992 and 2004: "Collectors paid villagers to give their blood, pooled it without testing for HIV or anything else, extracted the valuable plasma then re-injected the blood back into those who sold it." Yeesh. What's worse, at least 10 victims have been sent to labor camps for attempting to receive reparations. Yet another example of the government attempting to protect it's image by simply damaging it further. more ›

Good news on the H1N1 front! It seems like we’ve finally hit the peak and are now coming down in terms of infections and deaths. According to the Health Ministry’s weekly report, there were 1,556 confirmed cases of the flu since January 11, about 500 less than the week before. Then again, with the upcoming Spring Festival, the flu could become much easier to spread, what with all the people returning home for family reunions and all. Yeesh, we say bunker down and wait for it all to be over. more ›

Scared of AIDS? You should be. HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death in China last year compared with other infectious diseases, claiming almost 7000 people's lives in the first nine months of 2008. China's Ministry of Health said that until three years ago, fewer than 8000 people altogether had died from HIV/AIDS. Now the total has risen to five times that many. The main cause of transmission has switched from needle use to unsafe sex. Something to think about next time you watch your friend have one too many drinks on Tong Ren Lu. Source: BBC more ›

Hong Kong is hinting that the Chinese mainland might be covering up a new outbreak of bird flu, after a number of dead fowl were found on Lantau Island. So far, 17 dead birds have washed up on Lantau's beaches in recent days, three of which had tested positive for the H5N1 virus. more ›

A 27-year-old woman in Shandong infected with bird flu has died, becoming the second death claimed by the virus this season. Yesterday, the Center for Disease Control and Protection confirmed that Ms. Zhang had contracted the H5N1 strain. Those who came in close contact with her have also been tested, the CDCP said, but have shown no symptoms of avian influenza. Now the tally of reported bird flu cases is up to three. How many does it take before it officially becomes an epidemic? Source: Xinhua (Chinese) more ›