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Angels Behind Masks

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Single nurses who work in the AIDS wards find it hard to date due to the nature of their jobs.

For 24 hours last week, World AIDS Day focused global attention on the disease. But every day these unsung heroes help patients find the courage to keep living. Wu Zhangjie tracks their stories through camera lenses.

They are special caregivers. They may look like other nurses but the big difference is that they look after patients suffering Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS - a term that has sent many scurrying far, for fear of infection. The Shenyang No 6 People's Hospital is the only designated hospital in Northeast China's Liaoning province that admits only AIDS patients, whose numbers have been rising since the first case was detected in the province in 1992. In 2009 alone, the number has already exceeded 1,100 - the oldest patient being 78, and the youngest only 14.

There are five doctors and nine female nurses working the wards. Four among the nine nurses are single, and they find it hard to date as potential partners shy away when they find out where they work. The stigma and fear associated with AIDS makes it just as difficult for the patients.

One man sent here in August was covered in abscesses. He told the nurses he had eight siblings, but when the hospital called the telephone numbers he gave, all returned a common response: "We don't know him."

For the final 49 days of his life, it was the doctors and nurses at the hospital who kept by his side. No one ever came to see him.

There is also the very real danger of infection. When a doctor was scratched by an AIDS patient once, she had to go on a course of anti-viral drugs that caused serious vomiting for almost half a year. She did not dare to tell her family. Tests finally cleared her of infection, but the 180 days of agonizing uncertainty put her through tremendous pressure.

These are the true angels of mercy dedicated to the care of those whose own families have abandoned them. As one grateful patient sums up, it is these doctors and nurses who helped give them the courage and faith to keep living. "They are not normal hospital employees, they are real angels."

The dead may have been abandoned by their own families but here, they are assured of a dignified send-off by the angels of mercy. [Photo/Liaoshen Evening News]

There is no staff canteen in the hospital, so the nurses bring their own lunches and have to squeeze around one narrow table to have their meal. [Photo/Liaoshen Evening News]

Many AIDS cases are transmitted through blood transfusions, so extra care must be taken when hooking up intravenous injections. [Photo/Liaoshen Evening News]