HIV men rape virgins in search for cure
16 July 1999, 20:52
Mike Earl-Taylor
A campaign has started in Grahamstown primary schools to warn children about HIV-infected men who are raping virgins in the mistaken belief that it will cure them of the disease.
Instead, the young victims run a serious risk of being infected by the virus that causes Aids.
The Aids rape syndrome has spread as far as Cape Town where health workers have reported an increase in the number of girls raped by men who believe their actions will cure them or prevent them from getting Aids.
The awareness campaign was introduced after two girls, aged seven and eight, were raped by Aids sufferers seeking the "virgin cure".
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A survey conducted with the help of community anti-crime forums has linked the sudden increase in the number of girls raped in Grahamstown to the "virgin cure" phenomenon.A campaign has started in Grahamstown primary schools to warn children about HIV-infected men who are raping virgins in the mistaken belief that it will cure them of the disease.
Instead, the young victims run a serious risk of being infected by the virus that causes Aids.
The Aids rape syndrome has spread as far as Cape Town where health workers have reported an increase in the number of girls raped by men who believe their actions will cure them or prevent them from getting Aids.
The awareness campaign was introduced after two girls, aged seven and eight, were raped by Aids sufferers seeking the "virgin cure".
The survey found that 11 of the 30 reported rape victims in the Grahamstown area between April and June were aged between three and 11.
East London demographer Rob Shell said the number of girls between five and 14 testing positive for the HIV virus had increased in the Port Elizabeth area.
Shell, director of the population research unit at Rhodes University's East London campus, said the "virgin cure" phenomenon was first seen in the Eastern Cape in 1947, when an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases broke out after soldiers returned from World War 2.
Mark Welman, director of the Rhodes University Centre for the Study of the Prevention of Crime, said: "I think it is an alarming possibility that needs to be researched.
"It suggests the emergence of a new type of rapist who is willing to put the life of an innocent child at risk to serve his own interests.
"Clearly what must be combated is the misinformation handed out to HIV sufferers. There must be a public awareness campaign directed, in particular, at people with HIV-related diseases as well as the public-at-large to address the myth and superstition."
But Welman cautioned against public overreaction against most HIV sufferers, who seek traditional or Western methods of treatment for the disease.
"This category of child rapist would constitute a very small minority and one has to guard against the possibility of public anger being directed against HIV sufferers in general," he said.
Shell has been tracking "virgin cohort HIV-positives" in the five to 15 age group since 1988. The number of infections was growing, he said.
"Since 1988 we have tracked them as a growing percentage of all HIV-positive cases.
"They are still a relatively small group, but the significant thing is that they are growing as a percentage.
"These HIV-positive girls fall outside the national HIV surveillance system of antenatal clinics, which test only pregnant women.
"This virgin cure is actually an old one, and we have evidence from Europe in the early 19th century that men infected with venereal diseases like gonorrhea and syphilis sought cures by having sex with virgins.
"In the Eastern Cape, the virgin cure can be dated back to 1947 when there was an STD epidemic."
Shell said the problem had been exacerbated during the HIV epidemic because HIV counsellors told people with Aids no cure was available.
"Some of these HIV-positives go to traditional healers, who in some cases give them this old advice (the virgin cure)."
Grahamstown station commander Ronald Koll said young girls between three and 11 were being raped, and their attackers believed they would be cleansed of HIV-related diseases if they had sex with virgins.
He said police suspicion that the rapes were linked to the virgin cure myth was confirmed when two men were arrested and charged with raping two girls, aged seven and eight.
"They confirmed this suspicion. They told investigating officers the reason for having sex with young children was that they knew the girls were virgins.
"HIV-infected suspects would target only these young age groups as older girls were less likely to be sexually inactive."
He said police were looking for "a person or people" spreading the bizarre lie.
"When we address children in the schools we emphasise that they are not supposed to be alone with strange men or women," Sergeant Coetzer said.
"With girls and boys, we use a swimming costume as a guide to areas of their bodies covered by the costume that are wrong for someone to touch or fondle," he said.
Cape Town
