Kyrgyz women caught HIV from nursing babies

by Bethany Sanders (Subscribe to Bethany Sanders's posts)
Apr 12th 2008 3:00PM

In what can only be described as a double tragedy, a group of Kyrgyz women have contracted HIV through nursing their infected babies. Though the odds of transmitting HIV this way are extremely low, experts say that it is possible if the baby has mouth sores and the mother has cracked nipples (a common problem in new, nursing mothers).

The babies, it's suspected, were infected through contaminated blood or needles at two separate hospitals. The babies are receiving free treatment, but the 16 women involved (72 babies were infected in all) must pay for their own medications, that is, if they can afford it.

Not only are these women facing their own illness as well as their child's, they have also, in many cases, been abandoned by their husbands. But because they are still legally married, they don't qualify for welfare and have found themselves in difficult financial circumstances.

The group Rainbow, an group that helps HIV/AIDS victims with legal issues, has taken up the cause.

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