Patients In Mbarara Test Blood For HIV

Mar 06, 2001

THE persistence of malaria in Mbarara has caused panic among patients, forcing them to take blood tests for HIV, a health official has said.

By Ebenezer T. Bifubyeka THE persistence of malaria in Mbarara has caused panic among patients, forcing them to take blood tests for HIV, a health official has said. The manager of AIDS Information Centre, Mbarara branch, Stephen Mbugane, told The New Vision on Saturday, "We have tested about 3,000 malaria patients within the last two months." He said the figure had gradually increased from the 'maximum number' of about 900 clients whom they had been testing in one month. Worried clients reportedly said they could not believe they were suffering from malaria because they had spent two months on their sick beds. "Three quarters of the 3,000 clients have been found HIV negative but when they were tested for malaria, they were all found positive," Mbugane said. As a result of the influx of malaria patients seeking blood tests to ascertain their HIV status, AIDS Information Centre has made big profits. Each client pays sh2,500 for a test but in the sub-units, testing is done for sh1,000. The Mbarara district health officer, Amoti Kaguna, was recently quoted in press as saying over 50 people were killed by malaria in hospitals in the district in January. "About 25,000 malaria patients were registered in hospitals, excluding an unknown number in the villages in the district in January," he said. Mbugane urged teachers and parents to teach sex education in July because that is a redundant time when people have no much work to do, especially farmers. He said HIV infection was high during early pregnancies during defilement. Ends

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