The HIV infection rate among gay men in China is climbing at an alarming rate largely due to a lack of awareness about the disease, says an expert on homosexual studies.

The HIV infection rate is nearing 1.5 percent among sexually active homosexual men, said Zhang Beichuan, a professor with Qingdao University's Medical School.

"Health authorities have to do something to curb the rising infection rate among gay men, who account for two to four percent of the sexually active adult male population," Zhang said.

China's first, and most recent, official figure on male homosexuality was released in 2004, putting the total number of gay men in the country at between five and 10 million. The Ministry of Health reports China has 650,000 HIV carriers, an infection rate of 0.05 percent of the country's population.

In his latest study in a northeast China city, Zhang found 20 percent of the 215 gay men he interviewed used condoms, while 90 percent of them ruled out any likelihood of having contracted HIV.

A lack of general education may not be an issue. "About half of them were college graduates," Zhang said.

In a Beijing survey, only 15 percent of 482 sexually active gay men understood that they were at risk of contracting HIV, according to a 2005 report by the United Nations' UNAIDS.

An earlier report said 80 percent of China's gay men admitted knowing nothing about the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The fact that gay men are often forced into heterosexual marriages worsens the situation, said Zhang, one of the few experts on homosexuality in China. "More people will be affected if no action is taken quickly," Zhang said.

"Regardless of what people think, homosexuality is an inevitable social issue we have to face," said Shi Wei, a health official in Chaoyang District, which has both Beijing's largest white-collar and migrant population.

The HIV infection rate, however, remains highest among intravenous drug users and was nearly five percent in 2000, the most recent data available.