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Long after the SARS epidemic has been contained, the AIDS threat will continue to mount, even to the point of turning China into "the next Africa" in terms of AIDS devastation.

For the record, I believe that the writer of the above article is a homosexual himself, so this may have colored his viewpoint a little.

I have read that there is a very high rate of (heterosexual) promiscuity in Africa, and also that the strain of HIV virus is more virulent than what is common in the US. I wonder about China - are people more monogamous there, or are they promiscuous? Those two factors - especially peoples' behaviors - will determine whether AIDS becomes widespread like in Africa or not. I notice he calles prostitutes "sex workers" - that kind of politically correct "values neutral" speech is kind of nauseating and does nothing to help stop the spread of STDs.

A lot of things have to go wrong for any non-African country to even approach African rates of infection in the 25-40 percent range. But let's not understate the catastrophe of even a 5 percent infection rate in China - 5 percent of 1.3 billion people is twice the population of California.

Ironically, both AIDS and SARS have become major problems not because China is a totalitarian state but because absolute state control has collapsed. Under Mao Zedong China had an immobile population, virtually no drugs and prostitution, and a fairly comprehensive healthcare system. What AIDS and SARS demonstrate is the danger of loosening control on people's behavior while still restricting the flow of information.

...are people more monogamous there, or are they promiscuous?

Monogamous. Promiscuity by a husband is very common if not at times expected. Many prostitutes and a surprisingly large number of homosexuals.