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China Marriage to Mark AIDS Day

SHANGHAI, China (AP) — In a first, China will allow a person infected with the virus that causes AIDS to marry someone healthy, a matchup aimed at raising awareness of the disease, state media said Monday.

The unidentified couple, a woman with HIV and her fiance, will hold their wedding in Beijing next Sunday to mark World AIDS Day, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xinhua said health officials and experts invited the couple to the capital to lift the profile of a conference being held there on HIV, which has infected at least 1 million people in China.

The 28-year-old woman, a former drug addict who contracted the disease from using dirty needles, has been living for four years with her husband-to-be, who is still healthy, the Shanghai Daily reported.

The couple got approval to marry from officials in their home in Guizhou, a poor southern region crossed by smuggling routes used to bring heroin and other drugs in from Southeast Asia.

Drug use has been cited as a leading cause of HIV infection by Beijing, which says 1 million people are infected with HIV in China. Experts warn the number is higher and could reach 10 million by the end of the decade.

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