Six-month-old child of the woman given HIV infected blood, tested negative for the disease. This comes just a day after the Madras high court ordered the state government to compensate her with Rs 25 lakh and a government job.
Chennai: The six-month-old baby of the woman in Tamil Nadu’s Sattur, who was transfused with HIV-positive blood has tested negative at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai on Saturday.
This comes a day after the Madras high court ordered the Tamil Nadu government to sanction Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the mother.
The baby is supposed to undergo three tests — one at 45 days, the second after six months and the third after 18 months. Two tests have been completed, both showing favourable results.
When the first test was concluded, K Senthil Raj, project director of Tamil Nadu AIDS Control Society said that the first set of Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) tests, conducted at the end of the sixth week (45-days) on March 27, had shown negative results.
The ‘rapid card test’ method was used in the second test and a total of three ‘rapid card tests’ were done on Saturday.
Also read: After 20 years, Tamil Nadu court asks hospital to pay Rs 20 lakh to boy transfused with HIV+ blood
News reports quoted Madurai GRH Dean Vanitha as saying, “The test was done as the baby reached six months and it was done as per protocol. All three samples showed negative for HIV infection.”
The baby had been prescribed antiretroviral treatment for 45 days after birth to prevent any infection.
The baby was also only given infant formula to prevent the transfer of HIV through breast milk. Doctors opine that it is unlikely for the test results to change during the third test.
Also read: Odisha: HIV-infected minor girl raped in Bhawanipatna shelter home
In December 2018, the 23-year-old pregnant woman from Sattur had undergone a blood transfusion at the Sattur government hospital. It was only after the transfusion was complete that they discovered that the donated blood carried HIV.
It was alleged that the blood bank staff failed to properly screen the donated blood. Following this, multiple public interest litigations (PILs) were filed in court demanding compensation for the victim's physical and mental trauma.
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