China has revealed a large rise in 2007 in diseases transmitted sexually or via blood, including AIDS and syphilis, without reporting exact figures.

The number of new HIV/AIDS infections soared by 45 per cent in 2007, the Health Ministry said in a statement on its website, adding that new syphilis cases had risen by 24 per cent. The ministry's statement did not elaborate.

China has been battling an acknowledged rise in HIV/AIDS infections, now mainly sexually transmitted, though it had previously said the rate overall was slowing. In the past, most infections were caused by intravenous drug use.

The government said late last year it estimated about 700,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in China in 2007, up from an earlier estimate of 650,000.

The government has rolled out a television campaign to promote condom use - a major move for a country where talking about sex is still taboo for many people.

The Health Ministry said that scarlet fever and measles cases also rose in 2007, though other diseases declined.

There was just one death from plague last year and no deaths from cholera, even as the number of new infections rose by almost 3 per cent, it said.

Reuters