Via Thanh Nien Daily, another medical mystery in Vietnam: 13th HIV case detected in Mekong Delta commune. Excerpt:
Another HIV case was detected in a tiny Mekong Delta commune where 12 men have already tested positive for the deadly virus, according to the Ben Tre Province HIV/AIDS Prevention Center.
A 60-year-old man, identified only by his initials P.V.O., is the 13th HIV patient in Mo Cay Nam District's Ngai Dang Commune, announced the center on Friday.
According to the center, O. felt ill and went to the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City where he tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
So far, Vietnamese doctors have been unable to determine why and how 12 men from the same Mekong Delta commune contracted HIV.
Dr Tran Tan Dat, director of the Ben Tre Province center, told Voice of Vietnam (VOV) radio last month that there was no solid evidence proving how the men in Ngai Dang acquired the virus.
Most of them have had HIV for at least five years and four of them are now showing signs of full-blown AIDS. Dat also rejected allegations made by the men that Do Van Be, a retired nurse who runs an unlicensed medical clinic at his house in Phu Dang Hamlet, gave them HIV through his needles. Dat said the claim was "baseless."
The earliest any of the 12 men had received injections at Be’s clinic was two years ago, though they have had HIV for at least five years, Dat said. He also argued that Be had provided injections for dozens, if not hundreds, of men, women and children who have not acquired the virus.
