How wrong HIV diagnose ruined a man's life

(People's Daily Online) Updated: 2016-05-19 11:07

Yang Shoufa holds the diagnosis that said he was HIV negative.

Imagine waking up one day and being told that you not only have an incurable disease, but also one that has lots of stigma attached to it. Now imagine being deserted by wife, children and neighbors and forced to live in complete isolation for 10 years.

Sounds too grim to be true? That is exactly what Yang Shoufa had to endure.

The troubles for the 40-year-old from Central China's Henan province began when he was diagnosed with HIV in 2004. While the news left him shocked, that was just the start of what was to come.

The wrong diagnose cost him almost everything – his life savings, his family, and his friends.

Yang lost his job after the heavy dosage started affecting his health, his wife and children left him and others in his village began laughing at him. For a decade he lived in complete isolation.

"I did think of committing suicide," Yang admits. "To live through each day was a torture. I had no idea which day would be my last day."

The most puzzling part for him was to understand how he had contracted the disease. Finally, he convinced himself that he must have got the virus when he once donated his blood in 1992.

Yang had to take expensive anti-HIV medicines every day in the past 10 years, which has taken its toll both on his life savings and health.

In 2012, he fell ill and was hospitalized. This time, his medical report came back saying, "HIV negative."

"This is impossible," said Yang when he was informed of the news.

In November, 2015, the Health Bureau of Zhenping county said they were to verify the DNA from Yang’s blood samples taken in 2003 and 2012. Investigation shall be launched if result are not matched.