HIV clusters linked to injection drug use in families
While 20-year-old Alyssa, who lives in Saskatoon, doesn’t remember the exact day this year that she found out she was HIV positive, she remembers all the other details.
“I got really sick. I ended up in hospital, I was in hospital for about a month … I found out I got it from my mom, from sharing drugs,” she said.
She is not alone. Throughout Saskatchewan, there is a trend emerging that sets this province apart from the rest in Canada — and not just because of an infection rate that is twice the national average — HIV is attacking families.
The government once said in a report that HIV is moving in clusters, said Margaret Poitras, the CEO of All Nations Hope AIDS Network, a Regina-based organization that supports people who are HIV positive.