BBC News - Saturday, 23 October, 2004
Jane Elliott, BBC News Online health staff

She came to the UK three years ago from the Punjab region of India after an arranged marriage.

What she didn't know was that her husband had HIV and that he had infected her.

Because of the close links between the UK and the Asian sub-continent, where more that 4.5 million people are currently infected, there are fears that cases like Surrinder's could become more common.

Trends

At the moment the level of HIV among the South Asian communities in the UK is relatively small, but experts warn that without care the HIV infection trends could soon start to mirror those on the sub-continent.

They warn that arranged marriages, which rarely look into the sexual history of prospective partners, and an increasing number of people having unprotected sex in India before returning home, could soon cause problems in the UK.

Parminder Sekhon, of the Naz Project London, which supports Asians and other ethnic minorities, said they were warning UK Asians not to have unprotected sex particularly if they were travelling back to the sub-continent.

"There is a very close relationship between the sub-continent and the UK."

And she said there were fears that India's HIV problems could be mirrored in the UK, unless action is taken.

Parminder explained: "I think it would be very short-sighted to not interpret it that way.

"There is a risk that communities here will begin to mirror the communities there like some of the African countries have done.

"People really should be exploring sexual histories and thinking about sexual health and what part of the country they are travelling to."

Infect

In Surrinder's case it was her UK-based husband who infected her. Surrinder and her family knew nothing about HIV and Aids and had not considered questioning her husband about his sexual health.

They considered the husband a good prospect and felt he was hardworking and trustworthy.

But when Surrinder finally got the go-ahead to live in the UK after six years of waiting, she started to have doubts about his sexual history.

"Two weeks after coming to this country, my sister-in-law gave my son 10 photographs of my husband posing with naked Asian girls - I couldn't believe it.

"He said that they were taken before the wedding and tore them up in front of me, but by then the doubt was in my head."

Soon her health and that of her husband started to deteriorate.

"When I came here I was always ill with rashes, flu, aches and pains.

"I had never even had so much as a headache in India.

"One time, when my husband went to India, he was so ill there that he came back like a skeleton.

"The airport police had to take him straight to hospital and he was admitted for six weeks.

"After he got better we got a flat, but on the night we were due to move in he became ill again and was re-admitted to hospital.

"I didn't have a clue what HIV was, even when they told me that I was positive, I did not know what it really meant."

Sick

Eventually she was hospitalised, but her husband was even sicker. Both were HIV positive and on 2 January her husband died, leaving Surrinder and her son alone.

Surrinder is now facing an uncertain future and has made her will.

But she says she bears no malice to the man who infected her.

"I am not angry with my husband, I loved him.

"With combination therapy my viral load is undetectable and other than the side effects of neuropathy (a degeneration of the nervous system) in my feet I am fairly well.

"I can stand on my own two feet. That is what I want to do as long as I can."

Parminder explained that many people of South Asian origin found it impossible to admit their HIV status and were reluctant to admit how they had contracted the disease.

"I think there is a huge problem for people about how they will be treated if they disclose their status and the stigma and prejudice they will face," she said, adding that this was driving HIV underground in certain Asian communities.

"People have popular perceptions about how this is transmitted and they are things like pre-marital and extra marital sex, things that are considered taboo in these communities."

She said that people were reluctant to admit they had contracted the disease through sexual transmissions, particularly married south Asian gay men who could be living double lives.

Janet Mortimer from the Health Protection Agency said that although current tests were not showing high HIV levels among UK Asians, any travelling to at-risk areas should take sensible precautions.

"Anonymous testing of HIV infected individuals in this country is so far showing no evidence of a higher HIV prevalence within the Asian population.

"All travellers should take care not to acquire sexually transmitted diseases and HIV, particularly if visiting areas of high prevalence. We continue to advise people to take care when making trips back to India."
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