Vietnam authorities reject rumor of HIV risk among students

Authorities of the south-central province of Thanh Hoa have rejected a rumor that dozens of students at a junior high school, where a student was found infected with HIV, are “at risk of HIV infection, as they were stuck with tainted injection needles.”

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The rumor has caused great concern among parents, one student at the school was infected with HIV. 

The People’s Committee of Tho Xuan District and the Thanh Hoa Province HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Center on Friday issued their rejection of the rumor.

“No students have been injected with such needles, and no students are facing a risk of HIV infection,” Le Van Bien, chairman of the committee, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday.

After the rumor spread, the school took the students in question to the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Center for testing, Bien said, adding that the test results showed that none of these students had HIV.

Nguyen Dinh Que, head of the Education and Training Office of the district, said that on August 30, a number of students from the helped clean up the facility.

While working, the students played with each other using sticks, and some of them were poked with the sticks, Que said

Thus far, 35 students have been tested at the center, and none of them have tested positive for HIV.  

Le Truong Son, deputy director of the provincial HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Center, said health specialists at the center have provided parents with basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS, how HIV is transmitted, and measures to avoid HIV infection.

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