Contending mosquito bites spread AIDS, villagers ostracise HIV patient - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Yet another case of HIV positive discrimination has been reported from an obscure village in Uttar Pradesh, where a patient has been kept away and also ostracized by the ignorant villagers. This gory incident has taken place at a village named Sewai in Gorakhpur district, where a patient named Kashi was tested positive a year back, while he was working at Pune, following which he was sent back to his village. However, no sooner than the villagers learnt about his ailment, they forced him and his family to leave the village. Today, it has been four months that Kashi with his old parents is living on the outskirts of the village. Due to lack of awareness, the villagers presumed that touching or even a mosquito bite could easily spread the dreaded HIV-AIDS. "Everybody in the village said that AIDS can spread through a mosquito bite also. That is the reason he has been kept away from the village for the past four months," said Matul Nivad, brother of the HIV positive-tested Kashi. He also mentioned that the doctors at the local hospital ill-treated the patient and refused to treat him. When this was brought to the notice of the district health authorities, they termed such an instance as one of ignorance prevailing among the rural folk. "On humanitarian grounds, it is the duty and responsibility of the family to keep the HIV positive patient at home. But, people are unaware of this disease as they have a wrong notion that the illness can even spread through normal physical touch. This is one of the reasons for the patient to be ostracized," said Dr. J P Singh, Additional Chief Medical Officer of Gorakhpur.