Indian boy kills self on hearing parents have HIV

[Guest guest]

Indian boy kills self on hearing parents have HIV

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - A 15-year-old Indian boy has died after

setting himself ablaze on hearing his parents were infected with

HIV, police said on Monday.

" The boy said in his dying declaration he was worried about his

future, " said C.M. Mudaliyar, a police officer in Ahmedabad, the

main city in the western state of Gujarat, where his death occurred

last week.

" The fear of getting ostracized by society drove him to take this

drastic step, " he told Reuters. The boy had left school and was

helping his parents sell vegetables.

In May, UNAIDS said there were an estimated 5.7 million Indians

living with the disease at the end of 2005, more than in any other

country and ahead of South Africa's 5.5 million cases.

Indian authorities have dismissed the figure, saying the number of

infections stood at an estimated 5.2 million.

There have been reports in the past of HIV/AIDS victims being

ostracized by communities and of schools turning away infected

children in other parts of the country.

http://au.news./060703/15/zmqk.html#