Shanxi Province will conduct HIV testing among people who have sold blood since 1990 during the first four months of this year, said the provincial health department on Saturday.

A senior official at the department said that some people infected with the HIV virus have yet to be traced after the blood-sale scandal.

The department also requested local health bureaus to conduct antibody testing on the spouses and children of previous blood sellers who were found HIV positive and to offer timely anti-retroviral treatment to the patients.

To prevent possible discrimination, the department asked health institutions to protect HIV carriers' privacy and keep the testing results secret.

China passed a law in August 2004 to make it illegal to buy and sell blood in an effort to stem the country's growing AIDS epidemic, the first time the disease has been targeted in a law.

According to statistics from the Health Ministry, China has 840,000 HIV-positive people and 80,000 with full-blown AIDS. Officials of relevant United Nations organizations warned that the number could hit 10 million if the epidemic goes unchecked.

As part of the measures to curb the disease, China has made AIDS prevention a compulsory course of schools ranging from junior high schools to colleges.

China also launched pilot clinics last year to provide methadone maintenance therapy to intravenous drug users and programs to promote the use of condoms at hotels, universities and night clubs.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2005)