Now, 12 inmates of Mainpuri jail test positive for HIV

AGRA: At least 12 prisoners of UP’s Mainpuri district jail have been tested positive for HIV in the last six months, almost a year after 24 inmates of Gorakhpur jail were found to be suffering from the deadly disease. However, it was not immediately known whether these inmates were infected before or after being lodged in the prison.

According to officials of the UP health department, since the disease can be detected after a window period of 90 days, they were trying to find out the dates on which these inmates were lodged in the jail.

HIV targets and alters the immune system, increasing the risk and impact of other infections and diseases on human body.

After the Gorakhpur incident last year, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had directed the prison department to take immediate preventive measures so that other prisoners do not fall prey to the infection, and those suffering from it are provided necessary medical treatment.

Since then, the health department had started regular screening in the jail. A drive conducted in the prisons across the state found that as many as 459 inmates were HIV positive.

When contacted, superintendent of Mainpuri district jail, Hari Om Sharma, claimed that no one was infected inside the jail. “All inmates diagnosed for HIV positive are under treatment. They have been put in a separate barrack,” he added.

Narsingh Rathore, a lab technician who conducts Whole Blood Finger Stick test (WBFST) for HIV in the jail told TOI that during screening of 119 inmates on Saturday, five were detected with HIV symptoms. Earlier seven inmates were confirmed for HIV virus, he added.

Rathore said, “We organize two camps on 2nd and 4th Saturdays of every month in the jail to screen the inmates. If an inmate is tested positive in preliminary test, a second test is conducted at ICTC (Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre) for confirmation and then the patient is recommended to the ATR (Anti-retroviral therapy) centre for treatment”.

In the tests conducted by the Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society in 70 jails of UP, 265 prisoners were tested HIV positive till December 2017. These cases were reported from the jails in Bareilly , Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Faizabad , Agra , Meerut, Varanasi and Kanpur.