Libya HIV medics backed

NEW YORK – Racing against a courtroom deadline, scientists have produced new evidence that a Palestinian doctor and five Bulgarian nurses at a Libyan hospital did not deliberately infect hundreds of children with the AIDS virus.

A trial of the health care workers concluded November 4 in a Libyan court, where a verdict is expected in two weeks. In an analysis of HIV and hepatitis virus samples from some of the children, researchers conclude that the viral strains were circulating at the hospital and the surrounding area well before the five nurses and the doctor arrived in March 1998.The doctor and nurses had been convicted in an earlier trial of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV, and they were sentenced to death.That led to international protests that the original trial was improperly conducted, and accusations that Libya concocted the charges to cover up poor hygiene at its hospitals.Libya’s Supreme Court ordered the new trial last December.The judge in the new trial has set the verdict date for December 19.At least 50 of the infected children have died.The defendants, who say they are innocent, have been held in Libya since 1999.The available evidence suggests the children’s HIV infections resulted from a long-standing problem of poor infection control at the hospital, perhaps involving improper sterilisation before injections, said Oliver Pybus of Oxford University.He is one of the authors of the analysis, published Wednesday on the Web site of the journal Nature.The work was done because defence lawyers asked for an independent scientific inquiry.Pybus said the researchers worked far into the night for 10 days to get the work done and published before the verdict.Dr Vittorio Colizzi of the University of Rome, another study author, said he knew of no plans to submit the data formally to the court.Now that the scientists have done their job, he said, “the game is in the hands of politicians and journalists.”Nampa-APIn an analysis of HIV and hepatitis virus samples from some of the children, researchers conclude that the viral strains were circulating at the hospital and the surrounding area well before the five nurses and the doctor arrived in March 1998.The doctor and nurses had been convicted in an earlier trial of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV, and they were sentenced to death.That led to international protests that the original trial was improperly conducted, and accusations that Libya concocted the charges to cover up poor hygiene at its hospitals.Libya’s Supreme Court ordered the new trial last December.The judge in the new trial has set the verdict date for December 19.At least 50 of the infected children have died.The defendants, who say they are innocent, have been held in Libya since 1999.The available evidence suggests the children’s HIV infections resulted from a long-standing problem of poor infection control at the hospital, perhaps involving improper sterilisation before injections, said Oliver Pybus of Oxford University.He is one of the authors of the analysis, published Wednesday on the Web site of the journal Nature.The work was done because defence lawyers asked for an independent scientific inquiry.Pybus said the researchers worked far into the night for 10 days to get the work done and published before the verdict.Dr Vittorio Colizzi of the University of Rome, another study author, said he knew of no plans to submit the data formally to the court.Now that the scientists have done their job, he said, “the game is in the hands of politicians and journalists.”Nampa-AP