Contaminated medical equipment most likely cause of Cambodian HIV outbreak

A mass HIV outbreak in a Cambodian village was most likely caused by contaminated medical equipment, the World Health Organisation and Cambodian health ministry said yesterday.

Hundreds of panicked residents of the remote Roka village in western Battambang province have flocked for testing since news of the infections first emerged in late November.

An unlicensed Cambodian doctor has been charged with murder after he admitted reusing needles and syringes at his clinic.

A joint study carried out by the WHO and the health ministry found 212 people were now carrying the virus out of 1,940 people tested so far - with contaminated equipment the most likely cause.

"The study showed that the percentage of people that reported receiving an injection or intravenous infusion as part of their health treatment was significantly higher among the people who tested positive for HIV than the people who were HIV negative," a joint statement said.

Other potential transmission routes - such as unprotected sex, drug use and mother-to-child transmission - had been ruled unlikely, researchers added.