Mother of 'AIDS boy' hides truth, 6 doctors exposed to virus

Screenshot of a video shows the mother and the boy leaves the hospital. [By the Southern Metropolis Daily]

(ECNS) -- A mother concealed the fact that her son was HIV-positive when he received treatment at a hospital for severe head injuries, putting six medical workers at risk of exposure to the virus.

The Southern Metropolis Daily said the four-year-old boy was rushed to the Shenzhen Children's Hospital after falling from a platform at a local railway station on April 25.

The boy's head hit a rail, causing heavy bleeding. Before the operation, the mother remained silent when she was asked whether the boy had any infectious diseases.

Doctors then treated the boy and required him to stay in the hospital as they continued to check for internal bleeding.

A routine blood test the following day showed that the boy was HIV-positive. The mother admitted hiding the truth for fear of being turned away by the hospital.

Zhu Fengjun, the boy's doctor, said six medical staffers wearing common masks had been put at risk for possible HIV transmission. "It is horrible, if his blood had splashed into our eyes, and even his sweat and tears are fatal if any of the doctors had a small cut," he added.

A 21-year-old nurse, one of the six, said she couldn't sleep the first night after being told the boy was infected.

Although preliminary tests have shown that the staff are are all HIV-negative, they must wait another six months to eliminate any possibility.

Zhu said they wouldn't have turned away the boy, even if they had known he was HIV-positive.

The boy's condition continued to improve and he left the hospital five days later.

The mother said her son might not survive another year, so she was taking him to travel in Shenzhen from Hubei province.

In 2012, a 25-year-old man from the coastal city of Tianjin altered his medical records to hide his HIV-positive condition, after being denied surgery for lung cancer.

China's health authorities then issued a circular banning health institutions from denying medical treatment to people with HIV/AIDS.