Study Probes Blood Sales, Spread of AIDS

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Drug addicts in Cambodia who sell their blood to support their habit may become a new source for the spread of AIDS, a new study said Tuesday.

Cambodia, which is one of the world’s poorest countries, already has an HIV infection rate of 1.9 percent among people in the 15-49 year age bracket, among the highest in Southeast Asia.

Addicts reported working in “teams, taking turns selling their blood,” often through brokers who brought the new supplies to blood banks after hours, according to the study by Cambodia’s National Authority for Combating Drugs.

They then pooled their money with friends to buy drugs, the study found, adding that those who reported selling their blood often share unclean needles and syringes, putting them at high risk of contracting HIV and other blood-borne infections, including hepatitis B and C.

The findings, based on interviews with 47 drug users in the capital, Phnom Penh, and 19 in Poipet, a busy market town near the border with Thailand, sparked calls for immediate action to counter the threat.

“Time is running out. We need to act and we need to act now,” Deputy Prime Minster Sar Kheng said at the launch of the study. “It is highly likely that HIV prevalence in Cambodia will rapidly increase due to injecting drug use and unsafe sexual behavior under the influence of illicit drugs.”

A comprehensive approach – including outreach, drug dependence treatment, syringe disposal education, and voluntary HIV testing and counseling programs – is necessary to prevent the further spread of HIV in Cambodia, said the study, funded by the United States Center for Disease Control through the United Nations’ agencies on health, drugs and HIV/AIDS.