Analyzing the situation wherein hundreds of Chinese feel that they are suffering from a new disease that resembles HIV, doctors opine that the supposed “HIV phobia” has stemmed from people’s guilt from getting sexually-involved with prostitutes.

Saying that the illness is essentially a psychological condition, doctors add that the situation has arisen because of an apparent lack of trust between the medical practitioners and patients, especially after the Chinese authorities set a precedent of sorts by covering up respiratory illnesses like SARS.

The fear of the HIV-like disease has become so deeply rooted in these people they have practically started living in a self-imposed exile, and are avoiding family members and public places due to the fear that they might spread the disease.

Despite the fact that the HIV diagnostic tests of a majority of ‘mystery’ illness sufferers have turned out to be negative, they largely believe that they are not been accurately informed about their HIV status.

Noting that most of the patients of the HIV phobia patients feel that the authorities are “concealing an epidemic,” Dr Cai Weiping – a senior Chinese HIV researcher based at the People's Number 8 hospital in Guangdong – said: “A real HIV sufferer may take 15 minutes to deal with. A patient with the phobia can take at least an hour, or as much as half a day of arguing before they go away.”