China ? Almost 30 percent more cases of HIV and AIDS were reported in China through October than in all of 2005, the Health Ministry said Wednesday.

The increasing numbers reflect the continued spread of the epidemic and the impact of better reporting, said Joel Rehnstrom, coordinator of the China office of the United Nations’ AIDS arm, UNAIDS. “There is more, and more reliable, testing being done and a greater willingness of people to come forward,” he said.

Chinese officials said 183,733 cases of HIV or AIDS had been reported through Oct. 31, up from 144,089 in all of 2005.

Drug use accounted for 38 percent of the reported infections and unsafe sex for 28 percent, statistics showed. In more than 40,000 HIV cases this year, the patient developed AIDS. There were 4,060 AIDS deaths, bringing the total reported deaths in China attributed to the disease since the mid-1990s to 12,464.

The data arrived a day after the U.N.’s annual AIDS report, which showed the disease surging worldwide and called China’s burgeoning problems “alarming.”