China venereal disease rates rising 18 percent annually.

With the number of cases rising by 18% annually, venereal disease could become China's top infectious disease by the year 2000, China's senior physician on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) reports. Reported cases in China of eight major venereal diseases, including HIV, gonorrhea, and syphilis, increased to 362,000 in 1995, a news agency quoted Professor Ye Shunzhang, National Venereal Disease Control Centre (NVDCC), as saying. Venereal disease could become China's leading infectious disease, with more than 800,000 patients expected by the year 2000, Shunzhang said. China reports it had 3341 cases of HIV by the end of 1995, of whom 117 were suffering from AIDS. However, doctors have warned that the real number could top 100,000 because of insufficient reporting and misdiagnosis.