At the regional AIDS care reference center, reporting to the CHU Doctor Benzerdjeb in Oran, transformed into a Covid-19 unit for months, the head of this service, Prof. Nadjet Mouffok, welcomes the team of the ‘APS with a smile. A smile and a calm that contrast with the heaviness of its mission: to find an equation to take care of AIDS patients in the era of Covid-19.
The center, which received a large part of AIDS patients from different wilayas in the western region, i.e. an average of 4,000 cases per year, has been converted, due to a health crisis, into a Covid unit from April 2020 until ‘in September of the same year.
At the head of the only infectious disease service in the wilaya of Oran, Prof. Mouffok and his team have been mobilized to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, since its first weeks.
“We no longer had the possibility of hospitalizing HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) cases who suffered from parasitic infections”, explains Prof. Mouffok, adding that she was trying with her team to “dispatcher” complicated cases. , either at the level of health establishments in other wilayas, or in services at the CHUO, such as those of pneumology or resuscitation.
HIV patients “found themselves like orphans”, also testifies Hayet Azzi, president of the Association for help and support for people living with AIDS “Dream of living positive”. The Association mobilized from the start of the crisis to help this category of patients.
Fear of contracting the Coronavirus
Until last September, the infectious diseases department was closed to hospitalization. Her team continued to provide consultations and distribute medication for the patients she is monitoring. However, the problem lies in the fact that these patients are vulnerable people for whom contamination by the coronavirus can prove to be fatal. Consultations continued to be done, however many patients hesitated to go to the hospital because of fearing exposure to the risks of the virus.
“The health crisis has isolated many of them”, regrets Professor Mouffok, adding that of the 2,300 patients followed by his service, some 150 have not given any sign of life since the start of the crisis, nor for a consultation. , nor to recover their treatments.
“These people lost in nature can relapse and become contagious again”, underlines the same person in charge, specifying that for certain cases, their state has stabilized, and the virus controlled thanks to the treatments provided. “It’s a shame to lose sight of them like that!” She laments.
Even after the service reopened in early September, keeping only five (5) beds for Covid cases requiring special care, HIV patients continue to be rare. “The vast majority are afraid of contracting the virus by going to the hospital”, say the specialists.
Read also: VIH AIDS: more than 2,000 new infections including 150 deaths in Algeria since 2019
“No death of HIV cases having contracted the Covid virus has been recorded in our service,” says Prof. Mouffok. The president of the Association “Rêve de vivre positive”, for her part, clarified that HIV cases she knows in the context of her associative work, having contracted the Corona virus, did not cause major complications. An observation shared by Prof. Mouffok according to whom, “it does not yet exist
in-depth studies establishing a link between AIDS and Covid-19 “.
The “Rêve de vivre positive” association, with other partners, has been mobilized since the start of the pandemic to distribute medicines to patients at home. “We have received calls from different wilayas in the west of the country such as Tiaret, Mascara, Mostaganem, but also wilayas in the southwest, such as Nâama and El Bayadh”, notes Ms. Azzi.
“Unfortunately, not all patients are informed about this kind of action. Most are not connected to social networks, the main means of communication for these associations. Some are even illiterate. It is this category that s. ‘is found isolated during this health crisis, “said the same official.
The risks of the post-pandemic
For its part, the local Directorate of Health and Population (DSP) has contributed, to come to the aid of AIDS patients, by issuing special authorizations for associations which ensure the delivery and distribution of drugs.
“We have tried to facilitate the movement of people involved in these actions, especially during the period of prohibition of movement between the wilayas”, underlines the communications officer of the DSP, Youcef Boukhari.
While efforts have been focused on taking care of and supplying patients with drugs, screening for new HIV cases has taken a serious hit.
While screening campaigns were organized throughout the year, an abrupt and total stop occurred following the declaration of the pandemic.
Read also: Fight against VIH-AIDS: “appreciable progress” in Algeria
The result is felt on the ground: the infectious diseases department of the University Hospital of Oran has identified only 245 new (from the various wilayas of the west), against 530 during the first 11 months of the past year, reveals his manager.
The absence of screening campaigns, added to the disruption of the various health services, and with it, the reduction in blood tests required for various reasons (preoperative, prenuptial, among others), which can detect HIV infection, have made that the number of new cases detected is declining, adds Prof. Mouffok.
“After the end of the pandemic, fears of seeing cases (HIV) explode will be felt. All cases not detected because of the lack of screening will eventually reappear”, according to Professor Mouffok.
Experts in the field believe that the Covid-19 has “sufficiently upset” the various health services. It is therefore time, according to them, to try to catch up with the cumulative delay in recent months and to find a balance between Covid-19 and the rest of the diseases.
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