I’d like to commend your newspaper for taking a strong and vital stand for the ‘positive’ children in a Rivona school.
As much as educated folk and doctors have talked about post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and the chances of horizontal transmission of HIV in school settings being very low, one still has to accept the fact that it isn’t exactly zero.
PEP itself, isn’t a holy grail and if one asks around you should be able to find a couple decent amount of doctors themselves who’ve voluntarily abandoned the course owing to it’s side effects like gastritis, etc.
In the case of children, there’s a few situations I’d like to point out that may cause horizontal transmission, as under:
1) Children will be children, and there are fights and then there’s biting. There’s been a few reported cases of transmission via this mode, a good proportion in which there’s often a child involved.
A study by Wahn talks about transmission of infection between siblings through bites.
Ignoring altercations and believing in human kindness, HIV affected children being low on immunity may develop AIDS; advanced stages of this syndrome being associated with seizures (Wonget puts the incidence at around 11% in 630 observed patients, whereas Kellinghaus C. observes drug withdrawal seizures in HIV).
The affected children may themselves have history of epilepsy.
Seizure, or a fit to a layperson occasionally may present with violent limb and jaw movement, which may lead to accidental bites.
2.) As previously mentioned, children are synonymous with fights. Now it’s not everyday that one sees a bleeding child on the playfield, but bruises and a few cuts do happen during regular play too. One cannot obviously restrict a child from playing because of his/her HIV status, just as one cannot restrict entry to a public school based on the same.
As smoke is to fire, so is blood to bleeding. And blood is a good source of the HIV-virus which, I’d like to note, also depends on the titre of the virus in the bleeding patients blood.
There are reported cases of transmission of the virus in adults through wounds, during accidents and fights; but these have usually been deep wounds.
Nevertheless, there’s the (highly) remote possibility that a fellow mate may try to soothe his wounded classmate by trying to lick the wound. A more plausible situation being the child puts his/her fingers into his mouth without washing them.
A study by Enok TJotta shows that the virus can be infective for a reasonable time, even outside the human body.
Those seemed like what I wanted to highlight about. Before parting, a final question I’d like you to ask yourself:
Given the minimal risk of contracting HIV infection through the above mentioned ways; If in case (God forbid) one’s children had fallen prey to a similar incident, would you be willing to put your children through the torture of PEP treatment, lest regret later for not doing so?
I know it doesn’t help the Rivona case, but it’s worthwhile to put a thought on.
