BaretaNews is getting reports that Samuel Nlend who signed a three-year deal with the Egyptian side Al Ittihad has been sacked for allegedly testing HIV Positive. Reports say he stayed just four days with the Egyptian club. This news was first reported by the country’s media Kingfut.com. The young Cameroonian is now without a club despite being a good footballer. Samuel Nlend has capped five times for the Cameroon side scoring in January’s African Cup of Nations competition. However, the player has recently denied this allegation and provided a medical report which showed his nationality being falsified as “Eyyptian”. Investigations are currently going on.
However, this gives us an opportunity to talk about HIV in sports. It should be noted there is a difference between HIV and AIDS . HIV is short for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is this virus that can cause AIDS, which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is not yet curable, but the good news is that it can be treated very effectively and the better news is that HIV infection can be easily prevented by taking some simple and sensible precautions. Most often HIV can only be transmitted from one person to another by an exchange of bodily fluids. In reality, there are only four ways in which this can happen, and each of these can be prevented. These includes: Unprotected sex (i.e. without using a condom), Drug injection with a contaminated needle, Blood and blood products, Mother to Child Transmission
It should be recalled that no-one who plays sport at any level would give any thought to the possibilities of contracting HIV while pursuing a healthy activity. Although there is a tiny theoretical possibility of blood being exchanged through a clash of heads , for example, the good news is there have been no confirmed cases of anyone contracting HIV while taking part in sport and medical experts agree that the chances of it happening are much less than one in a million. The only exception to this estimate is boxing where experts think there could be a higher chance due to the possibility of boxers exchanging blood through head wounds.
HIV cannot be transmitted through normal bodily contact such as might occur in tackling an opponent. HIV cannot be transmitted by sharing shower and toilet facilities. HIV cannot be transmitted through sharing a glass of water or cutlery. However, that does not mean that bleeding injuries that occur during sport should not be taken seriously because there are other infections, such as hepatitis, that can be transmitted through sharing things like sponges to treat bleeding injuries. Though rare, there have been instances of members of sports teams contracting hepatitis in this way so some simple procedures and precautions should be taken.
It is not yet known whether Clubs can terminate the contracts of players who are HIV positives. What do FIFA statutes say? So many questions come to mind. How was he signed without knowing he was HIV infected if the investigations proved otherwise? Can an HIV-infected person play sports at the highest level without any major problem? Is this another form of racism and discrimination?
God is still saying something.
