Mosquito bite rash may point to HIV: Expert

Do you have a nagging mosquito rash that just refuses to fade away? Then you must consult an HIV specialist. This is what Dr DG Saple, director, Human Healthcare and Research Foundation (HHRF), said on Sunday during a workshop for doctors on the use of anti-HIV drugs.

The same was the case with a sexually-transmitted infection that failed to respond to standard therapy, he added. Dr Saple told DNA that many general physicians in India missed these early signs of HIV infection. Hence, by the time the patient came to the attention of an HIV specialist, the disease would have advanced into another stage.

About 150 doctors attended the workshop organised by HHRF in collaboration with the Center for Global Health Education, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the US. Dr Robert Bollinger, who represented the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, along with Dr Amita Gupta, said India had a major role to play in HIV research.

“There are plenty of doctors who can be trained to conduct scientific trials and a large number of HIV patients as well,” Dr Bollinger said, adding that the Indian experience could be utilised to make important decisions in many other countries.

One such global investigation currently underway in several countries including India, was about the welfare of married couples in which one partner was HIV positive and the other negative. The trial was intended to find out whether the healthy partner could be protected from infection by administration of anti-HIV drugs to the infected partner, Dr Bollinger said.