The new Guangdong sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and skin diseases prevention and control center will be built on Dajinzhongheng Road, Guangzhou, the Yangcheng Evening News reported Tuesday.

The new 87.05-million-yuan (US$10.53 million) center would include a clinic, a 6,000-square-meter in-patient department, a laboratory, a research center, a disease monitoring room and a training center, the News said. The existing STD center was transformed from a small residential building in the 1980s. The limited space has prevented the center from conducting large-scale medical research.

Guangdong reported 106,037 cases of STDs in 2004, accounting for 20 percent of the national total, 24.16 percent more than the previous year.

However, medical experts estimated that there might be as many as 500,000 STD carriers in the province. Experts said Guangdong's sexually infected AIDS sufferers increased 10 times over the past five years.

The province also reported China's highest number of lepers last year, accounting for 20 percent of the national total.

Guangdong's health department is applying to the provincial government for a subsidy to build the center.

(Shenzhen Daily July 13, 2005)