HIV Scare in MP: 4 Children Test Positive; How Contaminated Blood Transfusions Can Spread the Virus

Four children suffering from thalassemia tested HIV positive at Satna District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh allegedly due to contaminated blood transfusions, officials reported. According to news reports,

the case is around four months old, and an investigation has been ordered. Officials suspect the use of contaminated needles or blood transfusions for the spread of infection to the children. “It is also being investigated whether the blood transfusion took place in other hospitals also or only in the government hospital,” he said. Reports said the affected children – all aged between 12 and 15 years, received blood transfusions from the hospital's blood bank. “Either an infected needle was used or a blood transfusion occurred. These are the two main reasons I believe. Blood transfusion seems to be the most likely cause,” Devendra Patel, in-charge of the blood bank at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel District Hospital in Satna, told PTI news.

Affected children suffer from thalassemia

cording to officials, all the infected children suffer from thalassemia, with most of them having received 80 to 100 blood transfusions. One of the children was found to be HIV positive during a routine checkup a couple of months back – and since then was given medication, which caused side effects, according to the relatives of one affected kid. After taking the medication for HIV, the child starts vomiting and becomes ill, he added.

How contaminated blood transfusions spreads the virus?

Contaminated blood transfusions spread viruses when blood from an infected donor, often unknowingly, transfers viruses like HIV, Hepatitis B or C, or Zika to a recipient, as these pathogens are present in the blood during their infectious stage, even if the donor seems healthy. Strict screening and testing reduce risk, but window periods or rare viruses remain concerns, leading to infections like post-transfusion mononucleosis or hepatitis, highlighting the importance of donor safety and testing.

How do you get or transmit HIV?

ou can only get HIV by coming into direct contact with certain body fluids from a person with HIV who has a detectable viral load. These fluids include

• Blood
• Semen and pre-seminal fluid
• Rectal fluids
• Vaginal fluids
• Breast milk

For transmission to occur, the HIV in these fluids must get into the bloodstream of an HIV-negative person through a mucous membrane - found in the rectum, vagina, mouth, or tip of the penis, through open cuts or sores, or by direct injection. People with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load can live long and healthy lives and will not transmit HIV to their HIV-negative partners through sex.