At Least 90 People Tested Positive for HIV in Village in Northwestern Cambodia
People flock to have their blood tested for HIV in Roka village in Cambodia's Battambang province. ZUMA PRESS
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Concern is building over the number of people who appear to have been infected with HIV in a village in northwestern Cambodia, with health officials saying that at least 90 people have tested positive for the virus.
Medical teams from the World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS, or UNAIDS, have traveled to Roka village, near Battambang, to examine the high number of cases.
An unlicensed doctor is being held in protective custody in the area for allegedly spreading HIV through the use of contaminated needles. The man, Yam Chin, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Local officials said they are also investigating other possible causes for the mass infections.
The Pasteur Institute in the capital, Phnom Penh, on Friday said the confirmed number of infections had reached 90, while regional health officials say the number of infections has already surpassed 100. Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday appeared in a special television broadcast to announce what he described as a thorough investigation into the matter. Health officials urged people not to panic.
The health crisis in Roka has transfixed the nation in recent days, partly because Cambodian authorities, with the help of foreign health organizations, had been successful in halting the rapid spread of the virus in the 1990s.
By using television and radio talk shows, as well as traveling roadshows stressing condom use, health authorities HIV prevalence in the country fell to 0.5% of the population in 2009 from 2% in 1998, according to Cambodia’s National Center for HIV/AIDS.
If left untreated, HIV can lead to AIDS.
Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@wsj.com
