China’s AIDS Test for Foreigners Called Ineffective

A senior World Health Organization official said Wednesday that China’s rule forcing foreign residents to be tested for AIDS is ineffective and that the country cannot seal its borders to the disease.

Jonathan Mann, director of the agency’s global program to control the spread of AIDS, told a news conference in Beijing that compulsory testing of foreigners planning to stay in China more than a year is inaccurate and inefficient.

“We respect the government of China’s sovereignty . . . but it is generally believed that this kind of effort to stop AIDS at the border will not be very effective,” Mann said.

Newly infected AIDS carriers could pass the test but develop the disease later, and other foreign residents in China could contract the virus during trips outside the country after they had already tested negative, Mann said.