Brazil, dozens of wrong HIV tests in Rio

(ANSA) – RIO DE JANEIRO, OCTOBER 18 – “The suspects provided dozens of wrong results (false positives and false negatives) for HIV, even in tests carried out on children”. With this accusation, the public prosecutor Elisa Ramos Pittaro Neves, of the Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor’s Office, decided to extend the precautionary custody in prison of the four people involved in the case of the PCS Lab Saleme laboratory, which has been at the center of an unprecedented scandal in Brazil since September . Ramos Pittaro Neves underlined “the total disregard for the lives of an unknown number of people, driven by greed and profit, capable of ignoring the extent of the damage resulting from their criminal behavior, something unprecedented in Brazil”. Judge Aline Abreu Pessanha confirmed the continuation of the pre-trial detention in prison for another 5 days, “essential for the continuation of the investigations”. According to the newspaper O Globo, six people have tested positive for HIV after receiving transplanted organs in the state of Rio. The PCS Lab Saleme laboratory was responsible for testing the donors and presented HIV-negative results from two donors (kidney, liver, heart and cornea) who were HIV-positive. One of the six patients infected after the transplant died and the causes of death are under investigation. The PCS Lab Saleme laboratory has signed three contracts with the Rio government for a total of 2.82 million euros (17.5 million reais), two without tender for “urgent” reasons. Walter Vieira, one of the partners of the detained PCS Lab Saleme laboratory, is married to the aunt of the deputy and from January to September 2023 Rio’s health secretary, Doutor Luizinho, of the Progressives party (PP). Vieira’s son, also a partner in the laboratory, signed the three contracts with the Rio state government. (HANDLE).