The number of people suffering from HIV/AIDS in China is expected to increase to 740,000 by the end of this year, Hao Yang, deputy director of the disease prevention and control bureau said today.

In the second session of Tsinghua University Global Health Bureau, Hao released the latest information on the county's HIV/AIDS control and prevention work.

He said that 30.5 percent of the country's HIV/AIDS sufferers were female. In 2009, 45,000 new HIV/AIDS carriers and 26,000 new deaths were discovered across the country.

From 1985 to October this year, the total number of HIV/AIDS patients in China had reached to 105,000. Sexual transmission counted 74.7 percent of the total routes of transmission.

According to Hao, Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan and Henan provinces were the areas with largest number of HIV/AIDS sufferers. He said HIV/AIDS carriers in Sichuan province alone accounted more than 70 percent of the country's total number.

(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2009)