Soviet describes AIDS errors.Soviet describes AIDS errors It didn't make sense. Of 17 million men screened in the Soviet Union as of 1988, only five had antibodies indicating HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. infection. Of 4 million women, only eight tested positive. So officials were surprised in December 1988 to learn of two positive tests in the small city of Elista near the Caspian Sea Caspian Sea (kăs`pēən), Lat. Mare Caspium or Mare Hyrcanium, salt lake, c.144,000 sq mi (373,000 sq km), between Europe and Asia; the largest lake in the world. , where no AIDS cases had ever been seen. What followed was the discovery of a public health debacle that left at least 84 children and seven nursing mothers infected in·fect tr.v. in·fect·ed, in·fect·ing, in·fects 1. To contaminate with a pathogenic microorganism or agent. 2. To communicate a pathogen or disease to. 3. To invade and produce infection in. with HIV, and disturbing new evidence that the AIDS virus AIDS virus n. See HIV. can pass from baby to mother during breast feeding breast feeding Pediatrics The provision of a neonate and infant with liquified lacteal products 'on tap'; lactation and BF–≥ 6 months before age 20 is associated with a relative risk of 0. . Vadim V. Pokrovsky of the Central Institute of Epidemiology in Moscow now reveals details of the Elista tragedy, which first drew official attention when an ill baby tested positive for HIV and an unrelated adult woman tested positive after donating blood. Investigators found that the woman and child had previously had overlapping stays in the same local hospital. Testing of other children and adults hospitalized during that same period revealed HIV infections in 61 children and seven mothers. Of 5,000 hospital staff and family contacts tested, only one infected woman's husband tested positive. From there, medical investigators pieced together the story: The man had become infected years earlier while in Africa, then infected his wife, who bore an HIV-infected baby. Not knowing of the baby's infection, hospital workers caring for the infant "made a lot of mistakes in their work," says Pokrovsky. They repeatedly failed to sterilize sterilize /ster·i·lize/ (ster´i-liz) 1. to render sterile; to free from microorganisms. 2. to render incapable of reproduction. ster·il·ize v. 1. a syringe syringe /sy·ringe/ (si-rinj´) (sir´inj) an instrument for injecting liquids into or withdrawing them from any vessel or cavity. , spreading the infection to other babies--some of whom were later transferred to another hospital, where the same practice resulted in two further outbreaks infecting 23 more infants. Moreover, some of the babies developed bleeding oral sores that apparently allowed spread of the virus to seven mothers through small fissures in their breasts during breast feeding. The mothers, now HIV positive, had no other known risk factors for AIDS. All told, the outbreak went on for more than eight months. One child has died, and three children have AIDS. "This showed us there are no 'risk groups' for AIDS," warns Pokrovsky. "All human beings are at risk of this infection." A police investigation is underway, he adds. And the Elista hospital chief "is now unemployed." |
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