Researchers Look into Cause of HIV Cases in South Africa’s Children
Courtesy of AIDS ACTION (www.aidsaction.org)

A recent report by a research team from the Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology University in Tubingen Germany concludes that contaminated syringes are a significant route of HIV transmission for children in Africa, Reuters reported this Tuesday, May 6.

Led by Dr. Stuart Brody, the researchers attempted to resolve a puzzling discrepancy in data that was collected during a study last year by the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa. While the study indicated HIV prevalence rate of 5.6 percent in children between ages two and fourteen (amounting to 670,000 children), it also indicated that mother-to-baby transmission rates (thought to be the prime mode of transmission for children in South Africa) were significantly lower. This suggests to some scientists, that children may be contracting HIV in some other way. And the scientists who developed the recent report indicate that contaminated needles are the cause.

According to BBC News, the researchers reject the idea that high numbers of children are becoming HIV positive through unprotected sex or as a result of abuse. In their report, which appeared in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the researchers purport it is unlikely that so many children would have contracted HIV sexually, since it would require "inordinately high levels of childhood sexual exposure," which, they stated, would be “a phenomenon unlikely to have been overlooked by pediatricians. Further, they continued, "Recent reports from South Africa discourage this hypothesis."

The researchers also used other information to support their hypothesis. Reuters attributes the following statement to them: “Not only are injections popular among African patients, administered at an estimated 90 percent of medical visits, but also often unnecessary, and injection equipment is often reused without sterilization.”

Drawing a more controversial conclusion, the researcher continued, “The common belief that 90 percent of HIV transmission in Africa is driven by heterosexual exposure is no longer tenable.” The United Nations and many others disagree, however, maintaining that most cases of HIV are caused by unprotected sex. The BBC also reveals that some officials are concerned that this new transmission theory may challenge prevention programs that are trying to educate clients and encourage them to use condoms.