A quack, who allegedly infected 46 people in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district with the dreaded HIV over the last 10 months using the same syringe to administer injections, was nabbed on Wednesday, police said.
Several teams were deployed to catch Rajendra Kumar and he was arrested Wednesday, Kotwali Police Station incharge Arun Pratap Singh said.
Meanwhile, teams of the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) and the UP AIDS Control Society reached to look into the shocking case and visited the district hospital and the Chief Medical Officer's (CMO) office.
CMO Dr S P Chaudhary told PTI that seven members from both the organisations took stock of the developments and said they will also visit the affected areas as well.
Chaudhary said that so far 58 persons had been found infected with HIV in the Bangarmau area.
It was during a routine screening held from April to July that as many as 12 HIV positive cases were reported from Bangarmau tehsil alone. Then during another screening held in November 2017, another 13 cases were reported from the same place.
"After noticing the high number of cases, the health department constituted a two-member committee which visited various hamlets of Bangarmau to investigate the reasons behind the spurt," Chaudhary said.
He said the team visited Premganj and Chakmirpur areas of Bangarmau and filed a report, based on which screening camps were held at three places (in Bangarmau) on 24 January 24, 25 January and January 27.
"In these camps, 566 people were examined of whom 33 were found to be infected with HIV," he said.
The probe also found that a quack, Rajendra Kumar, living in a village in the area, had used a single syringe to administer injections.
This was the reason behind the significant rise in the number HIV cases, Chaudhary said.
A case against the quack was registered in Bangarmau police station, the CMO said.
He said the patients have been referred to Anti- retroviral Therapy (ART) centre in Kanpur. ART consists of a combination of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to maximally suppress the HIV and stop its progression. ART also prevents onward transmission of HIV, he added.
Bangarmau Councillor Sunil said at least 500 cases would come up if proper tests are done.
Meanwhile, Medical Superintendent Pramod Kumar said, "We had set up a health camps where these cases were found to be confirmed. We have received orders and are deciding our further course of action."
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)