How Drug Abuse Among Students From Affluent Families Led to HIV Outbreak in Tripura

Agartala: After reports of hundreds of children in Tripura getting infected with HIV made the rounds, the Tripura government dismissed media reports that claimed that the state was grappling with an HIV outbreak of 828 cases. The government issued a clarification and said that these figures were cumulative from April 2007 to May 2024, and not reflective of recent or current statistics. 

Tripura State AIDS Control Society Clarifies

The clarification follows a statement by a senior official from the Tripura State AIDS Control Society (TSACS) that reported 47 student deaths due to HIV and 828 students testing HIV-positive in Tripura. The government clarified that the figures mentioned above were over a period of 25 years.

"We have so far registered 828 students who are HIV positive. Out of them, 572 students are still alive and we have lost 47 people due to the dreaded infection. Many of the students have migrated out of Tripura for higher studies in coveted institutions across the country," a senior official of the TSACS said earlier in the month.

‘Report Misleading’

“It is reported that Tripura has 828 students registered as HIV positive and 47 of them died. This report is misleading because the total figures are cumulative from April 2007 to May 2024. Please note it as official clarification from Govt of Tripura”, the Health & Family Welfare Government of Tripura, said in a message on the social media platform X. 

The State Government has now clarified that these figures represent a cumulative figure of cases for 17 years from April 2007.

How Does The Disease Spread?

The HIV outbreak in the state has been driven largely by injectable drug use. An official said, "In most of the cases, children belonging to affluent families are detected positive for HIV. There are families where both parents are in government service and don’t hesitate in fulfilling the demands of the children. But by the time they realise their children became drug addicts, it was too late.”