Pakistan man murders HIV positive wife

AFP, 29TH MAY, 2019 - A Pakistani man killed his HIV positive wife Wednesday in southern Pakistan, where hundreds of people have tested positive for the virus in recent weeks, stirring panic and casting a light on the country’s dismal public health standards.

Police said the murder took place in a village near the epicentre of the outbreak on the outskirts of Larkana city in Pakistan’s Sindh province, where thousands have been screened in the last month.

The victim -- a 32-year-old mother of four -tested positive in recent days, according to a local police officer, with her husband accusing her of having an extramarital affair.

“This morning the husband strangled (the victim) with a rope and then hung her from a tree outside his home,” Roshan Ali -- a police officer in Shikarpur -- told AFP, adding that the suspect was now in custody.

Anger and fear continue to swell in the desperately poor villages and suburbs near Larkana affected by the epidemic, which authorities say could be linked to either gross negligence or malicious intent by a local doctor using tainted syringes.