Fact-check: HIV-infected needle attacks taking place in India?

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A number of Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter posts have shared a warning about contaminated needles being used in public places in India causing several new cases of HIV infection. The claim is false. This is a long-standing HIV hoax that cites non-existent sources. Experts say that although the virus can be spread through used needles, the risk of contracting it this way is ‘extremely low’.

This The post was shared on June 5, 2017 in a Facebook group with over 17,000 members.

The long caption of the post reads: “From Arvind Khamitkar, IAS, Director, Medical and Research Division, Chennai.

“A few weeks ago, at a movie theater, a man felt something knocking from his seat. When he got up to check it out, he found a needle sticking out of the seat with a note attached that said ‘ You have just been infected with HIV’.

“The Center for Disease Control (in Paris) recently reported many similar cases in many other cities. All tested needles were HIV positive. The center also reported that public banking machines I have found needles in the cash dispenser.

“Recently, a doctor described a similar incident that happened to one of his patients at Delhi’s Priya Cinema. A young girl, engaged and about to get married in a few months, when the movie Chal The tag on the needle read ‘Welcome to the world of the HIV family’.

“Although doctors told her family that it takes about 6 months for the virus to become strong enough to start damaging the system and a healthy victim can live for 5-6 years, the girl 4 Died in the month”.

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, attacks the body’s immune system, and if left untreated, can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. World Health Organization (WHO).

WHOData from 2018 suggests that around 38 million people were living with HIV worldwide.

The text post has been shared among social media users based in India, e.g Here, Here And Here On Facebook and here, here and here on Twitter.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:

The claim is false. This is one of the decades-old HIV hoaxes that have become endemic in social media posts, emails and websites around the world.

The old HIV scam

The misleading post has been circulating online for at least 13 years, for example This Posted on April 2006 India Forums.

The forum had approximately 900,000 registered members in 2017.

The scam plays on real-world events in South Asia, for example in 2018, a fake doctor infected dozens of people with HIV in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and in 2011, Indian workers Anna Hazare According to , HIV was a risk from needles. Reuters And Times of India.

In neighboring Pakistan, hundreds of people, mostly children, tested HIV-positive in a southern province when contaminated syringes were used on them. AFP Reported in 2019.

Myths of HIV transmission are not limited to the region of India and Pakistan. AFP has already done the fact check. debunked Misinformation about HIV from different parts of the world.

For example, Here AFP fact-checks deny claims about HIV-contaminated bananas, and Here Another fact-check by AFP is about HIV-infected Cadbury’s products.

Similar claims to the misleading post, with minor changes in the name of the medical staff who wrote the “letter”, the country and the public place where the “infection” occurred, have also been previously reported by fact-checkers in India. was rejected. America, for example Here And Here From India’s India Today and Navbharat Times, Here And Here From US’ Politifact and Snopes, and Here By Australia’s Hoax-Slayer.

Expert opinion

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a federal agency, HIV can actually be transmitted from one person with HIV to another through a used needle, provided the needle contains certain types of body fluids that can transmit the virus. can

The CDC states on its website: “Only bodily fluids—blood, semen (pre-cum), pre-seminal fluid (pre-cum), rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, and breast milk—from a person with HIV. Most commonly, people acquire or transmit HIV through sexual intercourse and needle or syringe use.”

According to , the virus is relatively fragile. University of California, Santa Barbara:

“HIV is a fragile virus and will not survive outside the body long enough to be transmitted through air, water or other surfaces. There is no possibility of HIV transmission through sexual activity that involves semen. , does not involve direct contact of blood with vaginal secretions, or mucous membranes.

CDC and A Paper A study titled “Needlestick Injuries in the Community” published in the medical journal Pediatrics and Child Health lists some conditions that determine the likelihood of HIV transmission from contaminated needles:

“HIV can survive in a used needle for up to 42 days, depending on temperature and other factors.”

“The size of the needle, the depth of penetration and whether blood was injected are also important considerations. In most reported cases of HIV transmission, the needle stick injury occurs within seconds or minutes. occurred when the needle was removed from the source patient.

Despite the relatively low probability of HIV transmission, used needles found in public places remain a concern for many people. However, the CDC and the paper state that the number of people who become infected with HIV due to needlestick injuries or the disposal of used needles in public places is very small:

“Scientists estimate that the risk of HIV infection from being stuck with a used needle on a person with HIV is less than one percent.”

“The risk of acquiring HIV from a hollow-bore needle with blood from a known HIV-seropositive source is between 0.2 percent and 0.5 percent, based on prospective studies of occupational needlestick injuries. Risk with high viral inoculum increases, which is related to the amount of blood and the concentration of virus in that blood.”

of Australia Department of Health Also solved this problem:

“To date, there have been no published reports of HIV, hepatitis C or hepatitis B infection in a member of the public following an injury from a used needle in the community in Australia. If you walk in on needles and syringes If so, don’t panic, the risk of infection is extremely low.

The absent doctor

The misleading post is purportedly written by one Arvind Khemitkar, described as IAS Director Medical and Research Div. ChennaiThe capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

IAS in India stands for Indian Administrative Servicean administrative department serving the Government of India as well as individual states.

The search is on. IASK’s portal shows No record of any Arvind Khemitkar on its officer database.

Below is a screenshot of the search:

IAS Officer Dev Chaudhary “There is no IAS officer named Arvind Khamitkar. It looks fake,” he told AFP via Facebook Messenger on November 13, 2019.

Indian newspaper Navbharat Times denied a similar claim in 2018 and said in its report: “There is no institution called ‘Medical and Research Division’ in Tamil Nadu. The second most shocking thing is that someone named Arvind Khamitakar came to Tamil Nadu. AS is not an officer, so the source of the news is fake.

Center for Fake Diseases

The bogus claim also cites a Paris-based “disease control center” that has reported similar cases of HIV infection stemming from needles left in public places.

Center for Disease Control translates to Center de Control des Miladys in French.

AFP conducted a keyword search on its website. St. Public FranceThe country’s public health agency under the Ministry of Health.

Search on “centre de contrôle des maladies”, limited to the area of Isle of Francewhere Paris is located, just got. A conclusionAbout food poisoning incidents in a Paris hospital in 2001.

AFP launched another keyword search. Google including all of the following words: “Santé publique France” and “centre de contrôle des maladies”.

None of the top results mentioned such a center in Paris, but pointed to the Sweden-based Center européen de prevention et de contrôle des maladies, or European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and the US-based CDC. What did

The ECDC is an agency of the European Union established “to identify, assess and communicate current and emerging threats to human health from infectious diseases”. Website.

It is located near Stockholm, Sweden.

gave CDC The U.S. National Public Health Agency is under the Department of Health and Human Services whose mission is to “protect the United States from threats to health, safety, and security both foreign and in the United States.”

is based on Atlanta, Georgia.