HIV+ man bites 8-year-old niece after failed rape bid

An HIV positive man has bitten his eight-year-old niece who put up a fight when he sexually assaulted her. The girl’s family is now spending sleepless nights, worried if the virus has been transmitted to the girl as well.

The incident took place in Andheri on November 2, when the child was sent to the house of

the 45-year-old accused to collect rent. The man, a distant uncle of the child, has known the family for over 15 years and has been living in the same neighbourhood; he had recently rented one of the rooms owned by the survivor’s family.

As she entered the room around 11am, the accused locked the door and allegedly attacked the girl. But the child fought back, screaming loudly, which apparently angered the accused. “Enraged, he bit her when she tried to get away from him,” the child’s aunt said. “She still managed to free herself from his clutches and ran back home in tears and told us about her ordeal. She had bruises that were clearly visible.” The family turned even more distraught after the child’s mother pointed out that the accused was HIV positive and his first wife had died of HIV-TB.

“A chill ran down my spine. We rushed to the DN Nagar police station where we were told to visit RN Cooper Hospital in Vile Parle without delay,” said the aunt, adding they went there, racing against time. “We worried that even a single minute wasted would take her close to the infection,” she said, adding Cooper doctors gave the child the first dose of anti-retroviral at 2.30pm and the medicine was continued for three days. “Luckily, the treatment was started immediately,” the girl’s father said.

Cooper Hospital doctors first performed the mandatory baseline HIV rapid test to check for infection. The girl’s father said his wife and he could barely breathe till the report came negative. “This report is of little consequence though. We have been told the virus has a window period of three months to manifest itself. We never thought we would ever cross paths with HIV,” said the father, an auto driver.

A senior Cooper Hospital doctor told TOI the child was immediately started on a post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment for three days. “We have referred the child to Sion Hospital that has a full-fledged peadiatric HIV care facility,” the doctor said. At Sion, she will be put on a 28-day PEP regime. “The wound can be classified as mild to moderate.”

Head of paediatrics at Sion Hospital Dr Mamata Manglani said chances of transmission in such cases are usually negligible. “But a lot depends on the wound, its depth and if there was any fluid exchange such as blood,” she said. Manglani added a PCR test could be carried out after a month to check the status, but an ELISA test after three months is mostly considered conclusive.

The accused has been sent to the DN Nagar police’s custody. The police have also approached the KEM Hospital forensic department to examine the bite marks. The child started going to school from Monday.