India drains lake after discovery of HIV-infected body
Villagers’ alarm at the discovery a week ago drove the demand for lake to be emptied despite low chances of infection
New Delhi — Indian authorities are pumping water out of a sprawling southern lake to assuage villagers’ fears it is contaminated after the discovery of the body of a woman infected with HIV, a regional official said on Wednesday. The virus is usually transmitted through sexual intercourse, infected blood and from an infected mother to the baby in her uterus or through breastfeeding, but the villagers’ alarm at the discovery a week ago drove the demand for the lake to be drained, the official said. “We tried our best to assure the villagers that we would get the water tested, but they did not budge and even refused to come near the lake,” said Naveen Hullur, who is in charge of the area. The lake near the village of Morab in Karnataka, about 440km from the state’s capital of Bengaluru, covers 13ha. It is a key source of drinking water for more than 1,000 people who live in the drought-affected region and earn their livelihoods by farming. The drainage operation has run for the past f...
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