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RATODERO, PAKISTN (AP) – Rehmat Bibi did not seem strange at all when Ali Raza, his 10-year-old son, went home with a fever in the poor district of Larkana in southern Pakistan.
Bibi took his son to a local doctor who gave him paracetamol syrup and told him that there was nothing to worry about. But she was panicked when she learned that several initially feverish children had been tested positive for AIDS in villages in the area.
Alarmed, Bibi took Raza to a hospital, where medical examinations confirmed that he belonged to about 500 people, mostly children, who, according to authorities, are infected with the immunodeficiency virus, which can cause AIDS. A local doctor with AIDS has been arrested and is currently under investigation for possibly having infected patients.
"We were very hurt the day we learned that our son was HIV-positive," Bibi told The Associated Press.
Bibi said it was heartbreaking to learn that his son had contracted HIV while he was so young. All of her relatives have been tested for AIDS, she added, but Raza is the only victim.
Bibi said she had not slept several nights because of worry and that she was taking care of her son since the beginning of this month, when the diagnosis was confirmed. He said that he wanted to see his son healthy and healed as quickly as possible.
Sikandar Memon, head of Sindh's AIDS program, said officials had badessed 13,800 people in Larkana and that 410 children and 100 adults were HIV-positive.
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