2014 - HIV in northwest Cambodia

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/...160-villagers-infected-hiv-northwest-cambodia

Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2014 12:30am
More than 160 villagers infected with HIV in northwest Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of villagers tested positive for HIV in a remote Roka commune in northwest Cambodia's Battambang province has exceeded 160, a local official confirmed Thursday.

Roka commune's deputy chief Soeum Chhom said three villages in the commune have been hit by the outbreak, which officials have pinned blame on an unlicensed doctor, Yem Chrin, who allegedly used unsterilized needles and reused syringes on patients. "In Roka village, 143 people tested positive for HIV, in Ambeng Thnge village, more than 20 tested positive, and in Tahen Muoy village, two children tested positive," he told Xinhua over telephone...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=260972


201 villagers infected with HIV in northwest Cambodia
Dec 29,2014

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 201 villagers have now infected with HIV in a remote Roka commune in northwest Cambodia's Battambang province, a local official said Monday.

Roka commune's deputy chief Soeum Chhom said three villages in the commune have been affected by the outbreak, which officials have blamed on an unlicensed doctor, Yem Chrin, who allegedly used unsterilized needles and reused syringes on patients...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/in...ntaminated-needles-health-authorities/1405407


HIV outbreak in Cambodian village Roka likely a result of contaminated needles: health authorities
Updated 10 January 2015, 20:30 AEDT

A mass HIV outbreak in a Cambodian village was most likely caused by contaminated medical equipment, the World Health Organisation and Cambodian health ministry say.

Hundreds of panicked residents of the remote Roka village in western Battambang province have flocked for testing since news of the infections first emerged in late November...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/two-more-roka-test-positive-hiv-govt


Two more in Roka test positive for HIV: gov?t
Thu, 23 April 2015
Pech Sotheary

Two more people in Battambang province?s Roka commune have been diagnosed this week as HIV-positive, following an outbreak of the virus first reported in the area in December, health officials said yesterday.

Dr Ly Penh Sun, director of the Ministry of Health?s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD Control (NCHADS), said the two patients, ?a 6-year-old and an adult . . . are not newly infected, [but] they migrated so have only just had their blood tested?.

Penh Sun did not give further details about the pair, but said their diagnosis brings the total number of people carrying the virus in the area to 250...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/roka-outbreak-had-high-hepatitis-c-co-infection-rates


Roka outbreak had high hepatitis C co-infection rates
Fri, 4 November 2016
Yesenia Amaro

Research presented by the Pasteur Institute yesterday revealed that the 2014 HIV outbreak in Siem Reap?s Roka commune was accompanied by a staggering rate of co-infection with hepatitis C, a finding that is ?not good news? for those affected, one expert said.

The research was presented during a public event at the Pasteur Institute by Francois Rouet, head of the Pasteur Institute?s HIV/Hepatitis Unit. Researchers from various organisations took part in the study.

From November 2014 to February 2015, of the 2,045 residents who were tested for HIV in Roka, 242 were positive ? a rate 20 times higher than the national average. Ninety-eight percent of the infections were of the same virus strain, indicating they shared the same origin, and unlicensed doctor Yem Chroeum in December 2015 was sentenced to 25 years in prison for spreading the HIV virus with tainted needles.

Of those who tested positive for HIV, 67 percent also tested positive for hepatitis C, Rouet said. ?Co-infection with Hepatitis C was massive,? Rouet said.

Dr Didier Fontenille, director of the Pasteur Institute, said after the presentation that researchers ?have been very surprised?. Fontenille noted that treatment for hepatitis C is very expensive and is only just becoming available in Cambodia...