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AFRICA: Re-use of needles also to blame for HIV/AIDS

    JOHANNESBURG

    More people in Africa may have been infected with HIV through unsanitary medical practices than previously thought, scientists have found.

    Although the link between HIV/AIDS infection and needle sharing among drug users is well-known, US researchers are proposing that the risk of transmission through unsafe injections and other unsterile medical procedures has been underplayed.

    "Despite the consensus since 1998 that heterosexual sex was responsible for 90 percent of adult HIV/AIDS infections in Africa, the issue was decided without the facts," said David Gisselquist, in a report published earlier this year in the International Journal of STDs and AIDS.

    According to a 1999 World Health Organization (WHO) study, at least half of all medical injections in a group of 17 developing countries were "unsafe".

    Gisselquist contends that current theories that the epidemic is being driven by heterosexual activity would require estimates of promiscuity that are unrealistically high to explain the rampant spread of the infection.

    "A more likely explanation is that HIV/AIDS is being boosted via the re-use of unsterile syringes as well as by sexual activity," Gisselquist added.

    According to the report, while safer sex is vital, measures to provide safe blood supplies, prevent re-use of unsafe needles, and address related issues of medical safety, are just as urgent.

    For more information: ftp://acithn.uq.edu.au/signfiles/HIVinfectSubSaharaAfricaNotExplained.pdf

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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