Sunday Times, South Africa - Sunday, February 7, 1999
Gillian Anstey

"It was just a routine procedure, a simple incision. But blood in the eye means possible AIDS," said Mol.

A week later the patient tested HIV positive and Mol began his wait. Now, nearly two months later, he is free of worry, having tested negative.

"But when it happens to you, you think maybe that small chance will be you. For the first time in my life it's great to be negative."

According to a report in the British Medical Journal last year, this places him among the estimated three in 1 000 health care workers Although there is a quicker test, Mol chose to wait six weeks as he believes this is more accurate. He also chose not to have any preventative treatment. Although he did not enjoy the wait, Mol said: "If it was meant to be, it was meant to be."

Apparently many people take this approach.

A doctor, who declined to be named, said her colleagues, rather than bothering with forms and medication, often say: "I'll find out when I start losing weight or getting infections."

Three years ago, after exposure to a baby's blood, this doctor had a horrific experience.

"The hospital was no help at all," she said. "They had no AZT and looked at me strangely when I asked for it. I had to beg people to take a sample of my blood."

So a friend took a blood sample from both the doctor and the baby, and sent them to a laboratory. Both she and the baby were HIV positive.

While she slept, her husband, also a doctor, arranged for triple therapy treatment, which had just been released in the US, to be sent to South Africa, and obtained permission for her to be put on a trial test.

Although she suffered on the medication, a miracle happened. She tested HIV negative.

"To this day even the lab doesn't have an explanation, but there are reports that with immediate triple therapy you can convert from positive to negative. Was I really positive? I don't know."

Less fortunate was Dr Louise Brink. On a busy night at the George District Hospital, Brink was drawing blood from a baby when the child hit Brink, knocking her hand into the needle.

When it was determined that the baby was HIV positive the hospital superintendent advised Brink not to take the therapy.

On December 1 1995, Brink learnt she was HIV positive, even though a recent report said that 99,7 percent of people exposed to HIV through work would not become infected, even if they did not have treatment.

However, for those workers who come into contact with the virus in South Africa, things don't look good. The South African Health Review 1998, released last month, revealed that over half of the hospitals surveyed did not stock AZT for treatment after accidental exposure.
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