Guwahati: Assam jails have recorded 226 HIV-positive cases between April and July, with injecting drug use linked to nearly 95% of them.HIV screening was conducted among inmates in 31 jails across the state, official sources said. Nearly 95% of the 226 HIV cases detected among inmates over the last four months were linked to injecting drug use (IDU).Of the 226 HIV-positive inmates, 202 are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). Security arrangements have made it difficult to take some inmates to ART centres, prompting ART teams to visit jails to provide treatment and related services.“Cases are detected in jails during the regular Prison Intervention program for HIV/AIDS. We can not say that HIV spreads among the inmates in the prison. Due to the Injecting Drug Use behaviour, drugs are injected outside the prison and get detected while regular screening of HIV in prison setup,” said an official of the Assam State AIDS Control Society.Preventive measures include HIV screening, awareness programmes and testing for TB, sexually transmitted infections and hepatitis B and C, treatment for infected inmates, and opioid substitution therapy in some prisons.Health minister Ashok Singhal said Assam has approximately 33,000 active HIV/AIDS patients. “If testing is intensified, the numbers could be higher,” Singhal wrote. “What these patients need is compassion, care and support. And what we, as a society, need to do is raise awareness, shun stigma, and ensure that no one else falls prey to this disease,” he added.
