HIV Trial in Libya - El-Fatih Epidemic in Libya and Accusations

El-Fatih Epidemic in Libya and Accusations

The El-Fatih epidemic is the largest documented incident of nosocomial (hospital-induced) infection of HIV in history. The Libyan public was enraged and many foreign medical workers were arrested - six were eventually charged. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi initially blamed the CIA or Mossad for plotting to carry out a deadly experiment on the Libyan children.

The crisis first came to light in November 1998 when Libyan La magazine (issue 78) published an exposé about AIDS at the hospital. In December the Association of Libyan Writers reported over 60 cases of AIDS so far that year in Libya. La interviewed Sulaiman al-Ghemari, Libyan Minister for Health, who told them that most of the cases concerned children. Parents believed their children were infected through blood transfusion in Benghazi's main children's hospital. Although La magazine was shut down, it was eventually revealed that over 400 children had been infected. Libya requested and received an emergency WHO team which was sent in December and stayed through to January 1999. The WHO team issued a classified report on the situation.

In February 1999 the Bulgarian embassy announced that 23 Bulgarian specialists had been "kidnapped". A week later they were informed by Libyan authorities that “precautionary measures” had been taken against Bulgarian doctors and nurses working at the Benghazi Children’s Hospital. Most of the nurses were recruited by Bulgarian state-owned company Expomed to work at the Libyan hospital, where pay was considerably higher than they could receive at home, beginning work in February 1998. On 7 March 1999 six members of the group subjected to "precautionary measures" were formally arrested on a warrant in connection with the case of infecting children in Benghazi with HIV. The group consisted of Ashraf Al Hajuj, a Palestinian intern, and Bulgarian nurses Kristiyana Valtcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka, and Snezhana Dimitrova. They later became widely known as "the Benghazi Six".