BEIJING: The number of

Chinese students

registered as infected with HIV is on the rise, with homosexual transmission becoming the major cause of new infections, an official here said on Saturday.

A total of 1,700 students were reported HIV positive in 2012, a 24.5 per cent increase year on year, Yu Jingjin, an official with the country's national health and family planning commission said.

Of the newly reported cases, 64.8 per cent of the infections are attributable to homosexual contact, Yu said, adding that 87 per cent of the total

HIV/AIDS

cases in 2012 came via sexual transmission.

In total, China has reported more than 7,000 HIV positive students.

The first AIDS patient in China was found in 1985 .

According to previous reports about 18,000 people died of AIDS in the first ten months of last year in China as number of HIV cases touched about five lakh. This marked over 20 per cent increase among people aged 15 to 24 and also of those above 50 years.

Chinese health ministry said 17,740 AIDS-related deaths were reported in the country from January to October last year, a year-on-year increase of 8.6 per cent.