A boy named James is 29 years old was diagnosed as HIV positive. Second test by an other hospital a fortnight later proved the earlier tests wrong. But by the time, the damage was done: in 10 days, James had lost everything that was dear to him, and his world had fallen apart.
When James was wheeled into the nursing home with a burning fever last month, doctors there diagnosed him with a range of diseases across the medical spectrum: viral fever, malaria, monkey fever and dengue. When he showed no signs of improvement, after a month in the nursing home, his blood was sent to be tested for HIV.
The result: HIV-positive from the famed ELISA and PCR tests, and immediate referral to another hospital. The new tests declared that the HIV-positive diagnosis was wrong. So did subsequent tests. James was totally HIV-free, they announced cheerfully. However, the experience of being a HIV-positive patient for 10 days had a devastating impact. “The trauma will stay with me till the end of my days,” he says.
His lover of 10 years, left him. His old friends refused to shake his hand or acknowledged his presence. “My prospective father-in-law shut the door on me when I went over to visit them” James says. “I got separated from everything, not just human beings but even the day-to-day activities that I so enjoyed. I got a separate plate, tumbler, towel, blanket etc. I was not an invited guest at the dining table.
