Southwest China's Yunnan province has reported a total of 37,040 registered HIV/AIDS cases, according to the provincial health department.

Out of 800,000 people having been examined from the start of 2004 through September this year, about 37,040 people were found infected with AIDS virus, with 64.5 percent infected through blood and 13.3 percent through sex, the source said.

Registered AIDS patients amounted to 1,686 in the province by the end of September this year, and 1,138 such patients died from the disease, the source said.

HIV/AIDS cases have spread quickly in Yunnan, which has become the most seriously infected area in China, said Du Kelin, deputy director of the provincial health department.

The province has made great efforts to curb the spread of the virus, and 945 AIDS patients have received free anti-virus treatment in the province.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2005)