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Refugees died after HIV misdiagnosis

According to a study done by Karolinska University Hospital, several female refugees from Africa have died of AIDS after Swedish doctors failed to test them for HIV, reports Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

Published: 8 August 2009 10:04 CEST
Refugees died after HIV misdiagnosis

Of the 82 patients in Sweden who were newly diagnosed with HIV in 2007, 34 of them had several depressed immune systems and the majority of them had already developed AIDS. The study showed that more than a third of them had sought medical treatment previously for AIDS-related diseases, but the doctors had not tested them for HIV.

Seventeen of the cases discovered late were African women who had been infected through heterosexual contact, said senior physician, Victoria Svedhem Johansson, who is responsible for the study.

Four of the 34 patients who received a late-stage diagnosis died within a year. This should be compared with the mortality rate of all AIDS patients in Sweden, which was 1 percent in 2007.

Elisabeth Wall Bennet, head of the supervision department at the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare, said that it is unacceptable that the HIV diagnosis was given at such a late stage.

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ASSAULT

Swedish man convicted of spreading HIV

A Swedish man has been ordered to pay more than half a million kronor ($90,000) in damages to a man whom he infected with HIV.

Published: 28 June 2013 15:55 CEST
Swedish man convicted of spreading HIV

The 27-year-old from Lund in southern Sweden has been found guilty of spreading the immuno-deficiency virus to a sexual partner. The prosecutor initially charged him with one account of aggravated assault, but the court instead found him guilty of the lesser charge of damaging another person’s health (grovt vållande av sjukdom).

The man was sentenced to 240 hours of community service, which according to Lund District Court’s verdict is the equivalent of one year in prison. The 27-year-old also has to pay his former sex partner 606,800 kronor in damages.

The two men met online, exchanging messages and agreeing to meet. Details of the one-night stand, however, have been described in different ways by the two men, according to reporting by the TT news agency.

The plaintiff has adequately proven that he was infected by HIV during the encounter with the 27-year-old, who has carried the virus for several years.

In Sweden, it is against the law not to tell a sexual partner about being infected with HIV before intercourse and sexual activity.

“Sweden has a communicable diseases law which stipulates certain rules,” explains the website of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL).

“One of these is the duty to inform, which means that if you know you have HIV you must tell your partner before you have sex.”

Doctors in Sweden must report cases of suspected lack of compliance to the law to the police, the organization further states.

“The sexual partner that is subjected to risk can report it as aggravated assault to the prosecutor’s office.”

TT/The Local/at

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