HIV-positive Africans spread the infection. many of them ignore the rules of protection against the infection
Christenson, B.; Lundbergh, P.
Lakartidningen 90(15): 1478-1481
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0023-7205 PMID: 8479277 Document Number: 331338
In Stockholm county, which has 70% of all HIV cases in Sweden, the situation is disconcerting because asylum seekers and migrants from Africa seem to find it difficult to follow the rules that HIV-infected persons must observe to limit the spread of the infection. In Sweden, regulations have been established for fighting infectious diseases with treatment, infection and contact tracking, and reporting obligation. 44 (17%) of 266 HIV-infected Africans in Stockholm county have been the target of some kind of intervention from infection control doctors. Since 1989 all asylum seekers have been offered testing for HIV. 5 cases are described, 3 of whom had to be placed in forced isolation. The 1st case was a 25-year old African man who came to Sweden in 1990 and sought political asylum, during which procedure HIV infection was confirmed. He was instructed about the rules concerning infection control orally and in written form. Then he met a Swedish woman whom he infected failing to reveal that he was HIV-positive and failing to use a condom. When contacted, he did not disclose his previous infection. He got married. His failure to report was eventually detected and also the fact that he had had at least 2 more contacts. Request to put him into isolation was denied owing to his current relationship. In another case, a teenage African was found HIV-seropositive in 1988 and subsequently infected a 16-year-old Swedish girl and later another woman without revealing his infection. He was confined to forced isolation. A 3rd case involved a 36-year alcoholic African with HIV infection who escaped from confinement and eventually was put in forced isolation. Since there are so many heterosexually infected people who deny their infection, it is arguable whether they should be granted a residency permit when they do not respect the Swedish regulations.