Infectious disease patients are doctor's primary passion

ZHENGZHOU－In a clinic in central China's Henan province, Doctor Zhao Qingxia greeted a patient.

"How are you doing? Come for more medicine, huh?" Zhao said with a smile.

The 55-year-old is the director of the infectious disease department at the Sixth People's Hospital of Zhengzhou in the provincial capital Zhengzhou, which is also known as the Henan Infectious Disease Hospital. She's served in the hospital's AIDS ward for 20 years, and remembers almost every patient's name, as well as their conditions.

The HIV/AIDS clinic does not look any different than the other clinics.

"We avoid labeling the clinic, to protect the patients' privacy," Zhao said.

Dec 1 was World AIDS Day, and this year's theme was "end inequalities, end AIDS".

While more and more people with HIV and AIDS are detected, medical practitioners like Zhao are devoting themselves to treating and caring for the vulnerable group with professionalism and love.

The latest figures show that 4,160 cases of HIV/AIDS were reported in Henan between January and October this year, an increase of 0.7 percent compared with the same period last year. By the end of October, the number of existing HIV/AIDS cases in the province reached 68,964, with an infection rate of approximately 6.9 per 10,000 people.

HIV is mainly passed person-to-person through unprotected sex, the sharing of infected needles by drug users, mother-to-child infection during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding and also by contaminated blood transfusions.

When she talks to her patients, Zhao makes physical contact, either shaking their hands or touching their shoulders. She said people with HIV are very wary, and many react strongly to their condition and reject doctors and nurses at the beginning.

"We have to be extra patient and cautious when approaching patients to resolve their hostility. You can gain their trust once they realize you care about them from the bottom of your heart," she said.

And the doctor's patients also care for her.

Once, when she tried to check a patient's mouth for a fungal infection, he turned his head away for fear of passing it on to her, she recalled.

Occupational exposure is a risk infectious disease doctors face constantly.

In another instance, as she helped a nurse insert a needle in a young patient, the frightened child moved suddenly, and the needle pricked her finger.

Zhao underwent special 28-day post-exposure treatment to prevent any possibility of infection.

"I was frightened and frustrated during those 28 days. From then on, I understood more about the mental torture and physical pain the virus causes in patients," she said, adding that the experience has strengthened her determination to help more.

In addition to clinical work, Zhao has contributed to expanding antivirus therapy use and to improving its quality, as well as to optimizing follow-up treatment processes.

Her hard work has won her recognition. In 2011, Zhao was awarded a prize by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition for her contribution to the struggle against AIDS.

"Having devoted my whole life to my career, I cannot live without it now," Zhao said.

Xinhua