Village on Edge Ahead of Mass Testing for HIV

Khmer Times / Mom Kunthear

Sunday, 21 February 2016

A motorcyclist driving in Peam village, Muk Kampoul district of Kandal Province, where 14 villagers have tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS. KT/Chor Sokunthea

Health officials will test the blood of more than 1,000 residents of Peam village in Kandal province for HIV – the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) – today, after 14 of its residents tested positive for HIV last week, officials said yesterday.
 

Health Ministry spokesman Or Vandin told Khmer Times yesterday that officials from the National Center for HIV/AIDS were investigating the cases but had yet to determine whether those who tested positive for the virus were recently infected or had been infected for some time without being detected.
 

“We do not have clear information yet,” she said, adding that health officials at the national and local level are working hard to investigate the cases.
 

Peam village chief Oung Khan said 14 residents of his village – which is about an hour’s drive north of Phnom Penh – had tested positive for HIV. After learning this, Mr. Khan asked the Ministry of Health to test more residents of the village for HIV, saying alarm was spreading among residents that they may be infected by the virus.