HIV claims it’s 6th victim in Cambodia village

[geovalin]

In a follow-up report to the HIV outbreak reported in the Cambodian village of Roka in Battambang province, a 69-year-old man has become the latest victim of outbreak linked to an unlicensed doctor

Cambodia/CIA

By Beng Sor, chief of the Roka commune health center, said that Tim Toy died on Saturday after experiencing side effects from the antiretroviral medication he had been given to treat the disease.

“The old man Tim Toy died on Saturday because he could not eat food,” said Mr. Beng Sor. “The side effects of his anti-HIV medicine made him unable to have food.”

There has been some 240 villagers who have tested positive for the virus after the use of contaminated equipment used by Yem Chrin, unlicensed doctor in the province who is currently jailed on murder charges.

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/hiv-claims-its-6th-victim-in-cambodia-village-35940/

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Officials urged to stop HIV’s spread

Wed, 11 March 2015

Pech Sotheary

At the closing of the Ministry of Health’s 36th annual conference in Phnom Penh yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen urged ministry officials to put a lid on new HIV cases in Battambang province, where 277 people were diagnosed with the virus late last year.

The premier pointed to the unprecedented outbreak in Sangke district, traced to reused needles administered by an unlicensed doctor, as evidence of the need for professionalism across the industry, and called on the Health Ministry to educate both health workers and the HIV-positive on how to stem the spread of the disease.

“I ask that people do not discriminate against [HIV-positive individuals], and ask infected people not to transmit the disease to other people,” he said. “We must add whatever resources necessary in this place.”

Health Minister Mam Bunheng also spoke of the need to expand services for disease prevention and treatment for people with chronic diseases, pledging to “increase the effectiveness of public health intervention”.

Six HIV-positive people in Roka commune have died since the outbreak’s discovery.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/officials-urged-stop-hivs-spread