Shanghai is considering adding an AIDS test in the medical
examinations required for local people applying for marriage,
today's Laodong Daily cited city's medical experts as saying.
The test is to diagnose and caution AIDS infected people before
their marriage, and improve quality of life in the city, as the
number of people infected with or carrying the AIDS virus is rising
in China, said a doctor surnamed Song, with Shanghai Institute of
Family Planning Instruction.
The existing items involved in the pre-marriage exams include
gynecological exams, urine and blood tests and tests for venereal
diseases, Dr. Song said.
"An increasing number of young people come to us to test for AIDS
and venereal diseases before the required pre-marriage exams," said
Dr. Song, "a fact that indicates local people's mounting
consciousness of these infectious and sometimes deadly
diseases."
Shanghai has applied AIDS tests in cross-country marriages as
required by the city's civil affairs bureau, he noted.
AIDS patients have been detected each year since the first case was
reported in 1990 and some of these are among local couples.
Reports of venereal diseases have increased in the pre-marriage
exams, Dr. Song said, with a rate ranging between 2 to 5 percent of
the total number examined.
(eastday.com November 26, 2002)