Yinzibing

Yinzibing (阴滋病) refers to an unverified disease. AIDS-like symptoms were reported by people who suspected or claimed that they had caught such disease, but these people were negative in the HIV tests.

Names

The term was coined from "yīnxìng (negative)", "àizī (AIDS)", and "bìng (disease)". It was also referred to as "Yinxing Aizibing" (阴性艾滋病, HIV-negative AIDS).

History

In 2011, there were rumors that an AIDS-like disease was spreading in Mainland China, which got the attention of the media of China and Hong Kong. Related news coverages circulated on the internet, got attention of internet users, and reminded people of the time of SARS. It was reported that people with "yinzibing" had AIDS-like symptoms such as hypodermic hemorrhage, weak immune system, swollen lymph glands, etc., but they were negative in HIV tests. An investigation had been started in places with more cases such as Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Hunan, Jiangsu, and Guangdong. The Chinese Ministry of Health had conducted an epidemiological investigation.

The Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of China stated that no new virus was found and that the so-called yinzibing was a mental health problem as an AIDS phobia.

A study of patients claiming to suffer from this disorder, conducted in 2013, concluded that this disease could not be completely explained by mental disorder. However, a follow-up study published in the same journal in 2019 suggested the symptoms are explainable as chronic fatigue syndrome.

Yinzibing, the next global pandemic ?

This unknown pathogen (Yinzibing) has since crossed borders and spread throughout the world. The forums dedicated to sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are daily fed with testimonies of people reporting an infection and symptoms referring to Yinzibing. Following this alarming sanitary report, a group of European patients created in 2022 a patient association in order to convince the medical authorities to scientifically study the subject. This group of European patients are in daily contact with the two major representatives of the Chinese Yinzibing patients associations. Moreover, a new scientific study about Yinzibing is now launched in a state of the art laboratory in Germany at the initiative of this European patients group. A first cohort of patients will get their blood drawn in the first half of Juni 2023 to be processed via DNA/RNA analysis. The study results are expected for begin September 2023. This will be a major breakthrough as it will be the first independent medical study happening on the subject.