A Chinese medical expert on November 10 said efforts are needed to increase the fight against AIDS in China. By the end of 1998, 13.9 million people have died of AIDS around the world.

The world's AIDS patients and HIV carriers have reached 47.3 million. Among the 33.4 HIV carriers, some 95 percent reside in developing countries, said Xu Hua, deputy secretary general of the China Association for HIV/AIDS and STDs Prevention, who specializes in researching AIDS transmission and its control, at a Forum organized by The All China Journalists Association.

"AIDS is endangering the whole world," said Xu.

According to statistics released by the World Health Organization (WHO), those who contract AIDS increases at a rate of 16,000 new virus carriers a day. As head of the non-governmental organization, Xu is highly valued by the Chinese government in efforts to control the fatal disease.

China's Health Ministry announced recently that by the end of September, 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities had reported a total of 15,088 HIV cases, 477 of which are AIDS related cases. 240 deaths have been reported.

Since the first AIDS case was reported in the United States in 1981, the deadly disease has spread throughout the world. Statistics show that of the 33.4 million HIV carriers in the world, about seven million are in Asia.