Cambodian officials find 212 with HIV in remote village

Cambodian health authorities have found 212 villagers infected with HIV and say the outbreak is likely due to contaminated medical equipment.

The 212 people with HIV were discovered in the village of Roka after authorities tested a total of 1,940 people in the Battambang province in the northwest.

The government and international health agencies including the World Health Organization and UN AIDS released their findings in a statement on Saturday.

Cambodian health minister Mam Bunheng urged health authorities to strictly follow protocols on the use of clean equipment and he vowed to eliminate new HIV infections by 2020.

“The Ministry of Health is ensuring health facilities to follow universal precautions and use clean and sterile equipment,” Minister Bunheng said.

The government and health organisations said there appeared to be a link between injections and HIV among the people they tested.

“The study showed that the percentage of people that reported receiving an injection or intravenous infusion as part of their health treatment was significantly higher among the people who tested positive for HIV than the people who were HIV negative,” their statement read.

Last month, an unlicensed medic who operated in the district was charged with murder on suspicion of spreading the virus with contaminated equipment.

The case has been a blow to Cambodia’s largely successful efforts against HIV infection after the virus first spread quickly through the impoverished country in the 1990s.

Reuters