Amid fears of an HIV epidemic in Kandal province’s Sambuor Meas commune, where 14 people tested positive for the virus earlier this month, the Ministry of Health, UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Thursday that the cases were not indicative of an outbreak.
Ten people from Peam village and four in two neighboring villages were confirmed to be HIV positive this month after tests at Samdech Euv referral hospital in Phnom Penh, prompted by on-the-ground testing conducted by NGO Khemara on February 13 that uncovered a worrying number of previously unknown cases.
In response, officials from the Ministry of Health’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD Control (NCHADS) and the provincial health department carried out their own tests on Monday, finding four positive cases in 279 people, about a quarter of Peam village’s total population.
In the statement released on Thursday, the ministry, together with UNAIDS and the WHO, concluded that the newly discovered cases did not indicate an outbreak.
“Among the 279 individuals tested were 112 children, none of them had a positive HIV test result,” the statement said. “The data are not indicative of an HIV outbreak.”
Ly Penh Sun, head of NCHADS, explained that the scope of Monday’s tests was broad enough to dismiss fears of an epidemic.
“I think one quarter of the people coming to test is enough to indicate …there is not a link to an outbreak,” Mr. Penh Sun said.
“None of [the children] are HIV infected. If there was something like Roka, some would be infected,” he said, referring to an outbreak in Battambang province, discovered in late 2014, in which about 270 people were found to be infected by a local medic who reused needles and syringes.
Marie-Odile Emond, UNAIDS country director, also said that testing a quarter of Peam village offered conclusive evidence.
“Among all the people tested, there were few infections detected without significant difference to the national average,” Ms. Emond said.
