Case Report
High HIV Prevalence in a Matrilineal Yi Community in China: The Role of Culture, Geography, and Literacy
Claire Liu*
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 3, September 2025
Pages:
56-61
Received:
14 July 2025
Accepted:
24 July 2025
Published:
8 August 2025
Abstract: My medical missionary trip to Xinjie Village in the summer of 2024 and 2025 revealed a devastating public health crisis: an HIV rate of 11%, shockingly 100 times China’s national average. Located in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, Xinjie is home to the Yi ethnic group, whose unique cultural practices, geographic isolation, and socioeconomic marginalization have fueled one of the worst HIV outbreaks in China. The Yi practice "walking marriage," a matrilineal system where men and women maintain separate households, leading to transient sexual partnerships and low contraceptive use, which are key drivers of HIV spread. Compounding this risk, Tibetan Buddhist beliefs frame childbirth as sacred, discouraging condom use, while proximity to the Golden Triangle drug-trafficking route has introduced high rates of injection drug use and needle-sharing. Additionally, extreme educational deprivation, with only 4% of villagers having completed high school, perpetuates misinformation, with many attributing HIV to ancestral curses rather than viral spread. This article examines the intersecting factors sustaining Xinjie’s outbreak: (1) sexual networks from walking marriage, fostering overlapping partnerships; (2) drug trafficking exposure, with needle-sharing amplifying blood-borne spread; and (3) educational deficits, leaving villagers unaware of prevention or treatment. Culturally insensitive policies and a lack of healthcare infrastructure further aggravate the crisis. Effective intervention requires harm reduction (e.g., needle exchanges, PrEP), culturally adapted sexual health education, and investment in bilingual schooling to combat health illiteracy. Xinjie’s plight underscores the urgent need for integrated, fairness-focused approaches in marginalized communities globally. Without addressing these structural and cultural determinants, HIV will continue its unchecked spread, leaving generations at risk.
Abstract: My medical missionary trip to Xinjie Village in the summer of 2024 and 2025 revealed a devastating public health crisis: an HIV rate of 11%, shockingly 100 times China’s national average. Located in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, Xinjie is home to the Yi ethnic group, whose unique cultural practices, geographic isolation, and socioeco...
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Research Article
Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Issue:
Volume 10, Issue 3, September 2025
Pages:
62-67
Received:
5 September 2025
Accepted:
17 September 2025
Published:
30 October 2025
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijidt.20251003.12
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Abstract: Vancomycin resistant Enterococci (VRE) are multidrug resistant emerging pathogens that can cause various hospital and community acquired infections with increased mortality and morbidity. VRE is now becoming a global threat due to limited treatment options. So, this cross-sectional study was undertaken to detect VRE in a tertiary care hospital of Bangladesh by both phenotypic and genotypic method. A total of 87 Enterococcus spp. isolated from different clinical samples in the laboratory of Department of Microbiology and Immunology of Bangladesh Medical University (BMU) were studied from March 2019-February 2020. Enterococci of this study comprises E. faecalis (65), E. faecium (20) and E. raffinosus (2). According to this study, 67.8%, 60.9%, 56.3%, 47.1% and 43.7% of Enterococci were resistant to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, nitrofurantoin, ampicillin and cotrimoxazole respectively. VRE was detected phenotypically by determination of minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of vancomycin by agar dilution method and genotypically by detection of vanA and vanB gene by conventional PCR. The prevalence of VRE was 3.4% (3 out of 87). The highest MIC value of vancomycin 256 μg/ml and 128 μg/ml was observed in two and one VRE isolates respectively. The vanA gene was detected in all VRE isolates. Two (66.67%) VRE were isolated from urine and 1 (33.33%) from blood sample. All VRE isolates were E. faecium and only susceptible to Linezolid and Fosfomycin. Detection of VRE in this study place warrants strict infection control and prevention policy to combat this difficulty to treat pathogen. It also provides important data regarding susceptibility of Enterococcus spp. and VRE.
Abstract: Vancomycin resistant Enterococci (VRE) are multidrug resistant emerging pathogens that can cause various hospital and community acquired infections with increased mortality and morbidity. VRE is now becoming a global threat due to limited treatment options. So, this cross-sectional study was undertaken to detect VRE in a tertiary care hospital of B...
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