DHAKA: Salim (anonymous) can not remember how long ago he got injected pethidine for the first time. He has been visiting hospital over the last two years with breaks. Sometimes, he went away and come back again.
He gets his treatment there, take medicine and move again. Senior nurse of non-Communicable Diseases Hospital Rezia said, ‘I haven’t seen any body of his own. Sometimes he told that his sister has called me, sometimes his mother called, but we did not notice anybody to call him or visit him.
Bangladesh has a significant number of HIV-positive people who use injection. HIV positive is spreading through the use of a single injection needle by many people. Drug addicted especially who are using Pethidine becoming infected with HIV through this needle.
Fifty years old Salim told, “Once I was suffering from severe Diarrhea and fever. At that time I took some treatments but after few days got the same symptoms. Then I went to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and the doctor sent me to Non-communicable diseases hospital for some tests.”
“I was diagnosed with this disease at that time.”
He did not tell anything about his family. Just said, I’ve everybody. Now, I am alone. But all will come back.
For using of needle of taking Pethidine now his veins are not visible. Hands are affected with bruises.
He said “It was such an addiction that I took the push for several times in a day. We don’t know whose or which needles we’re taking. We also used dead needles (Rejected Needles took from Dustbin). When hands veins were becoming invisible, I used my leg’s vein.” Sometimes he used his male organ for injectable drug.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) Injectable Drug users are dangerous, cause of expanding mobility, blood selling, unsafe commercial sex and are the propagator of Hepatitis B and C.
Director of the Communicable Diseases Hospital Dr. Anjuman Ara Begum said, HIV (+) spread by repeated use of a needle of many addicted.
She said this injectable drug users are spreading at many places in the country. This trend of injectable drug is one of the main causes for increasing HIV (+) patients in the country. Around 2500 Drug users are habituated with this injectable drug.
She said AIDS can spread through seven ways: women sex worker, Third gender, friends, male sex worker, professional blood donors and husband or wife.
It seems, day by day this drug users stop the connection with their family. Meantime family wants to cure the person and sometimes admit them in drug rehabilitation center. But once he or she has HIV (+) the family becomes detached.
According the UN AIDS, there are 20,000-30,000 injectable drug users in the country. In most of the cases, there is a cocktail drug which is a mixture of Morphin, Anti-Histamin and sometimes diazepam. This drug users change a needle with one another.
National Aids STD program shows, in our country there are nine thousand and six hundred HIV (+) patients and of them seven percents are from Dhaka and nearest areas. Of the total patients, 11 percent are affected with HIV (+) through injectable drug users.
BDST: 2155 HRS, JAN 21, 2017
MN/Shahjahan/BD
