Patna: An HIV outbreak has raised alarms in Bihar.
More than 7,400 people have been found to be HIV-positive in Sitamarhi district, as per official data. More alarmingly, the number includes over 400 kids who have contracted the virus from their parents.
Explaining the scary development, government hospital doctors said the cases mostly involve families where one or both parents are HIV-positive, resulting in transmission at birth. Despite frequent campaigns, awareness about this life-threatening infection is “severely low”.
“This is not a disease that spreads through coughing; it spreads through blood transfusion or being injected with the same needle. Today, schools are teaching about AIDS and HIV. Bettiah, Motihari, and Muzaffarpur are in a worse situation than we are… Around 250 to 300 patients come to us daily to get medicines. The total number of patients under treatment is 6,707. This data is from 2012 to the present,” Dr J Javed, assistant civil surgeon and HIV nodal officer, told ANI.
The surge in cases, said state Health department officials, is due to several factors, such as marriages conducted without prior health checks, large-scale migration for work, HIV transmission not being taken seriously, and utter reluctance to get tested due to social stigma.
बिहार के एक ज़िले में 7400 HIV मरीज पाए गए जिसमें 400 से अधिक बच्चे है …!
महिलाओं की संख्या 3544 और पुरुष की संख्या 2733 है #Bihar #HIV pic.twitter.com/iLHqso3Pb9
— Mukesh singh (@Mukesh_Journo) December 10, 2025
There is a great deal of pressure on the already burdened local health system, according to the ART Centre at the district hospital.
All about HIV and AIDS
The local administration has started fresh awareness drives across the district to let people know about this infection, which can turn into full-blown AIDS.
HIV — human immunodeficiency virus — infects and destroys immune system cells, which reduces chances to fight off all diseases. When HIV weakens the immune system, it can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which is the final and most serious stage.
HIV infects white blood cells of the immune system, known as CD4 cells, or helper T cells.
HIV initially leads to flu-like symptoms, which can hide in the body for a long time without causing noticeable symptoms. But it slowly destroys the T-cells. As T-cells are reduced, illnesses set in that that people with healthy immune systems don’t get. That is when HIV progresses to AIDS.
Signs and symptoms of HIV include – fever, chills, fatigue, sore throat, muscle aches, night sweats, rashes, swollen lymph nodes, mouth sores etc.
HIV is contracted through blood, semen, vaginal fluids, breast milk and rectal fluids of an infected person.
The virus enters the body through mouth, anus, penis, vagina or broken skin (a cut or wound). If a pregnant woman contracts the virus, it can be passed on to the fetus.
The most common ways of spreading HIV is by having sex without a condom and sharing needles to take drugs.
