|
|
 |
Major SA Study proves rape and AIDS are linked
Charlene Smith. Sunday Independent, 16 Feb 2003 Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd
|
South Africa turned HIV thinking on its head at an important AIDS conference in Boston this week when Dr Francois Venter, a Johannesburg physician, presented probably the world's most significant research findings yet into the relationship between rape and HIV.
The research, by Dr Adrienne Wulfsohn, a doctor in private practice in Morningside, Johannesburg, attracted intense interest at the 10th Conference on Retro-viruses. It proved conclusively that it was pssible to become HIV-positive after rape, and that the timeous administering of anti-retrovirals after sexual assault could prevent HIV sero-conversion.
The findings of the four-year study, involving 687 rape survivors brought to a private clinic in Johannesburg and treated by Wulfsohn and her team, showed that there was a 30 percent higher risk of HIV transmission, or that of other sexually transmitted diseases, during rape than normal sex.
Venter reported that taxi drivers were involved in a disproportionate number of rapes. "It is difficult to say why; maybe it is South African culture and an attitude that 'I can drive fast and rape whom I please'. There were several rapes by police officers, about 10 or 12, many in police cells, " he said.
Wulfsohn's research showed that six percent of rapists used condoms, an attempt, she believed, by rapists to ensure that they left behind no DNA, which had become an essential tool in rape prosecutions. Venter said: "It this is so, it paints a very disturbing picture, not only of premeditation but of serial rapists trying to evade conviction."
He and Wulfsohn pointed out that even if rapists used condoms it would still be important to go onto post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) in case there had been semen leakage. The study found that rape survivors were more likely to go for follow-up treatment and HIV tests if they had been raped by a stranger and if a gun was used. If raped by people they knew, they were less likely to follow through with treatment, Venter said.
"What that implies is that there is pressure from family and community not to come back and to forget about it. Our data manager and people helping were really horrified by the documents detailing the rapes, some of them terrible in their mundaneness: a woman raped on the way to work, and only when people find her crying does she tell them what happened. A number of women were raped for a second or third time."
A total of 18 men who had been raped formed part of the study; five were younger than 10 years old and a few were raped - usually gang-raped - during hijackings. One mentally disabled man was raped and burnt with cigarettes.
Although more than 35 countries administer PEP after rape or high-risk sex, there has been insufficient scientific evidence to prove that HIV transmission is possible after rape, or the efficacy of PEP. The largest previous research study, which came up with similar results, was that by Dr Josh Bamberger in California in 1999. The Wulfsohn study showed that of 687 patients who were seen during a four-year period, 16 percent were already HIV-positive when they were raped.
"Multiple assailants were involved in 26 percent of cases, 435 survivors received PEP within 72 hours, 173 returned after six weeks or later and accepted testing," said Venter. "A single HIV infection occurred in a 15-year-old mentally disabled woman, who did not stick to the treatment regime. A 16-year-old woman, who presented herself 12 days after an assault (and therefore did not receive PEP) was documented HIV-negative, and subsequently sero-converted. She had no risk factors for acquiring HIV other than the assault."
The Wulfsohn study was one of only 28 non-American studies to be presented at the Conference. The study noted: "Along with the high incidence of sexual assault [in South Africa], there is also the significant risk of exposure to HIV. Risk factors for HIV tranmission during sexual assault may include multiple assailants, trauma and co-existent sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Transmission of non-HIV sexually transmitted diseases during sexual assault is common. The high background prevalence of HIV in South Africa suggests that assailants have a significant chance of being HIV-positive."
Another finding was that rape survivors experienced or reported no toxicity from the drugs nor severe side-effects, but, Venter noted, "among medical staff, 77 percent complain." Wulfsohn believed that rape survivors, having faced death, were less inclined to develop psychosomatic symptoms and were more committed to the drug regimes.
|
| Was this article helpful to you? |
 ?100%???? ?0%
|
|
Back
|
|
|
|
