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AIDS

Physio back in business after rape conviction

A man convicted for the statutory rape of a minor is free to continue practicing as a physiotherapist in Sweden pending a ruling from the country’s medical responsibility board about whether or not to recall his licence.

Published: 25 March 2009 15:27 CET

The 53-year-old licenced physiotherapist was first convicted in Stockholm District Court back in December 2005 on charges of child rape, sexually exploiting a minor, paying for sexual services, and endangering the life of another.

The charges stemmed from a series of sexual encounters between the physio and a 14-year-old boy he met via the internet, as well as from other instances in which he paid men to engage in various sexual acts.

In each case, the 53-year-old had unprotected sex with each partner after failing to inform them that that he was HIV-positive, as is required by Swedish law.

According to court documents reviewed by The Local, the physio claimed at the time of the trial that he neglected to inform the boy and other men that he was infected with the virus that causes AIDS because various illnesses had affected his judgment.

He also claimed he wasn’t aware that the boy was only 14-years-old, despite the boy’s age being clearly stated in his website personal ad, a copy of which was found saved in the man’s computer.

The other men with whom the 53-year-old had had unprotected sex all testified that they believed he knew the boy was under 15-years-old, the legal age of consent in Sweden.

The man’s conviction was upheld by the Svea Court of Appeal in June 2006 and he was sentenced to four years in prison.

But his physiotherapist licence was never revoked and he remains authorized to practice pending a ruling from Sweden’s Medical Responsibility Board (HSAN).

According to Marie Hansson, a lawyer with Sweden’s National Board for Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen), the courts are supposed to inform the agency of rulings involving licenced medical professionals.

“The judgment was never sent,” she told The Local.

“As far as I can tell, we never received anything from the courts in this case.”

She is troubled that a bureaucratic glitch has meant that the 53-year-old’s licence has yet to be reviewed more nearly four years after he was convicted for the statutory rape of the 14-year-old boy.

“This shouldn’t happen if the systems works as it’s supposed to,” she said.

She added however, that the decision as to whether the physiotherapist is allowed to keep his licence now rests with HSAN and that it may take several months for the matter to be settled.

In the mean time, he is free to continue practicing.

According to records with Bolagsverket (Swedish Companies Registration Office), the man founded a new company in northwest Stockholm in February specializing in “sports and sports medicine”.

Repeated attempts by The Local to reach the 53-year-old were unsuccessful.

HEALTH

Spanish scientists make breakthrough identifying HIV resistance gene

A rare genetic mutation that causes a form of muscular dystrophy affecting the limbs also protects against HIV infection, Spanish scientists reported Thursday.

Published: 30 August 2019 10:05 CEST
Spanish scientists make breakthrough identifying HIV resistance gene
Photo: peshkova/Depositphotos

The breakthrough comes a decade after American Timothy Brown, known as the “Berlin Patient,” became the first person cured of HIV after a bone marrow transplant from a donor with a mutation of the CCR5 gene.

The newly-discovered mutation concerns the Transportin 3 gene (TNPO3) and is far more rare. 

It was identified several years ago among members of a family in Spain who were suffering from type 1F limb-girdle muscular dystrophy.   

Doctors studying the family learned that HIV researchers were interested in the same gene because it plays a role in transporting the virus inside cells.   


Role of TNPO3 in HIV infection (credit: Rodríguez-Mora S, et al., 2019).

They then got in touch with geneticists in Madrid, who took blood samples from those family members and infected the blood with HIV — revealing a welcome surprise.   

The lymphocytes — white blood cells that are an important part of the immune system — of people with the rare muscular illness were naturally resistant to HIV, it emerged.

“This helps us to understand much better the transport of the virus in the cell,” Jose Alcami, a virologist at the Carlos III Health Institute and co-author of a paper published in US journal PLOS Pathogens on the subject, told AFP.   

HIV is among the most studied viruses, he said, adding however that much remained to be learned, such as why five percent of patients who are infected do not develop AIDS.

“There are mechanisms of resistance to infection that are very poorly understood,” he said.

READ MORE: Spanish team develop biosensor to detect HIV within a week of infection

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