A total of 347 people were found to be infected with HIV in Shenzhen last year, with experts saying it is a crucial time in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The number is 180 percent more than in 2003. AIDS experts called for people to be on high alert against the deadly virus, warning that the number could reach 500 by the end of this year.

Professor Feng Tiejian with the municipal center for disease control and prevention (CDC) said drug addicts using needles still made up the majority of HIV carriers in Shenzhen, followed by those infected through sexual contact. Female HIV/AIDS carriers were on the rise, but the growth had not accelerated Feng said.

An improved monitoring system also contributed to more findings of HIV/AIDS infection, experts said.

Pregnant women, patients undergoing operations and blood donors are required to have HIV tests. The city provides free blood tests for people who volunteer for examinations for HIV, free treatment for poor AIDS patients, free education for orphans* of parents with AIDS and free HIV checks and treatment for pregnant women.

Doctor Zhou Houqing with the city's No. 2 people's hospital said his hospital was receiving people volunteering for HIV checks every day, and most of them were men in their 30s worrying about becoming infected with HIV through sex.

Zhou said people should be encouraged to undergo HIV tests and urged more drug addicts using needles to take tests.

Backgrounder: Basic knowledge about HIV and AIDS
Many people don't really understand how HIV and AIDS are related, even though they hear these two words used together all the time.

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus.

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. HIV is actually the virus that causes the disease AIDS.

How is HIV spread?

HIV infection isn't like a cold or the flu. A person cannot get HIV by hugging or holding the hand of, sharing a school bus or classroom with, or visiting the home of someone who has HIV. HIV is passed only through direct contact with another person's body fluids, such as blood.

The majority of people get infected with HIV by:

1. having sexual contact with a person who has HIV

2. sharing needles with a person who has HIV

Other ways of getting HIV can occur when:

1. an infected pregnant woman passes it to her unborn child

2. a person has a blood transfusion from a fairly large volume of blood

Can HIV and AIDS be prevented?

People can help stop the spread of HIV by avoiding sexual contact with infected people, using condoms during sex and by not sharing needles or syringes.

How are HIV and AIDS treated?

Right now there is no cure for HIV or AIDS, but new medicines can help people live longer lives. Scientists are also researching medicines that may one day help to prevent HIV infection, but it's a very tough job and no one knows when these medicines might become available.

How does AIDS affect you?

AIDS can affect anyone: male or female, married or single, young or old, rich or poor, in any community, including smaller cities and towns. This makes AIDS a problem for all of us.

Editor: Wing