1998年,利比亚一家医院400多名儿童不幸感染艾滋病毒（HIV/AIDS），随后在该医院工作的5名保加利亚籍女护士和一名巴勒斯坦籍医生被逮捕，并被法院指控为针对利比亚的恐怖阴谋故意让这些无辜小孩感染HIV，后被宣判死刑。随后世界卫生组织，美国和欧盟都纷纷介入，深入的调查显示没有证据支持利比亚法院的判决，美国总统布什和国务卿赖斯都发表言论谴责利比亚的错误判决。迫于压力，利比亚数度推迟了案件的最终宣判。为寻找案件真相，科学家也投入了大量精力从科学层面寻找证据证明被告的无罪。

 

 

 

   最近来自牛津大学的分子进化学家，通过分子生物学的手段证明：病毒在这六名护士和医生进入该医院之前就爆发了，而儿童的不幸感染可能与医院恶劣的医疗条件有关。因为艾滋病毒的基因序列发生突变的时间非常快(这也是HIV疫苗难以开发的主要原因之一),利用分子生物学的手段,通过这种变化就可以推算不同病毒共同起源的时间.同时如果这些儿童的感染是故意接种所致的话,那么他们的感染应该发生在同一时间,而病毒基因序列的进化速度也会相同,那么通过聚类分析这些序列应该聚为同一类.科学家利用66名感染儿童的血液样本，提取RNA分析了艾滋病毒基因和乙肝病毒的基因的部分序列，并与已知数据库的序列进行比较推测它们分化的时间，结果表明，这些病毒的序列并不聚为同一类,其分化发生在6名被告进入医院的时间(1998年3月)之前，为他们洗脱罪名提供了直接的证据.相关的报道发表在这一期的NATURE上。

 

 

 

   这一事件，因为其严重性和敏感性，发生在被美国视为人权重灾区的利比亚，所以引起了世界许多国家的关注，也引起了许多科学家的兴趣，多个研究小组通过不同手段都证明这一事件与被指控的医生和护士无关。各国政要也纷纷斡旋，保加利亚总统在去年访问利比亚专门拜访了受害儿童的家庭和身在狱中的护士。SCIENECE(http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/1206/1)和NAUTRE(http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/aidsmedicslibya/index.html）杂志都进行了长期的跟踪报道，NATURE更是开通了专门的BLOG（http://blogs.nature.com/news/blog/2006/09/science_would_prove_libya_medi.html）收集大家的意见。一个专门的网站（http://declanbutler.info/blog/libya.htm）更是详细跟踪了事情的来龙去脉。受害者家庭最近提出高达56亿美圆的赔偿请求，希望各国政府和基金组织能花钱平息纷争。一个医疗事件最后演变成国家之间的政治斗争。而在监狱了被关了7个年头的无辜者却成了最大的牺牲品。利比亚法院决定在今年的12月19日做出最后裁决，让我们拭目以待科学能否战胜政治给无辜者以清白之身。

 

 

 

Nov 4 (Reuters) - A Libyan court will deliver its verdict on six foreign medics accused of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV on Dec 19, the judge said on Saturday.
Following is a chronology of key events in the case.

 

Feb 1999 - Nineteen Bulgarian medical workers in Libya detained in connection with investigation into how children in a hospital in the eastern town of Benghazi became infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Thirteen are later freed.

Feb 2000 - Trial of six Bulgarians - five female nurses and a male doctor - and a Palestinian doctor and nine Libyans opens at Tripoli People's Court. They are accused of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV-contaminated blood products as part of conspiracy by foreign intelligence to undermine Libya. Libyan defendants are charged with negligence.

June 2, 2001 - Defendants plead not guilty. Two Bulgarian nurses retract confessions, alleging they were tortured. Libya denies this.

Feb 17, 2002 - People's Court, which tries national security cases, returns trial to ordinary court citing insufficient evidence that defendants acted against Libyan security.

Sept 3, 2003 - French doctor Luc Montagnier, who first detected the HIV virus, testifies the epidemic broke out a year before the arrival of the Bulgarians.

Sept 8 - Libyan prosecutors demand death sentences for the six Bulgarians and Palestinian accused. They demand nine Libyan officers charged with torturing the medics be tried separately.

May 6, 2004 - Libyan court sentences five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor to death for deliberately infecting 426 children. The Bulgarian doctor is acquitted. The nine Libyans are acquitted. Torture charges against the Libyan officers are transferred to a Tripoli court. Bulgaria, the European Union and the United States condemn the death sentences as "absurd".

Dec 5 - Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam says will discuss overturning sentences if Bulgaria offers compensation. Bulgaria refuses, saying that would be an admission of guilt.

May 28, 2005 - Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, visiting Libya, meets children with HIV in Benghazi and the nurses in a Tripoli prison.

June 7 - A Tripoli court acquits nine Libyan policemen and a doctor of torturing the nurses.

Oct 17 - U.S. President George W. Bush urges Libya to free the medics.

Dec 19 - Supreme Court brings forward its appeal hearing to Dec. 25.

Dec 23 - Bulgaria, Libya, the EU and the United States agree to set up fund to help to the Libyan children and their families.

Dec 25 - Libya's Supreme Court scraps death sentences against the nurses and the Palestinian doctor, sends the case back to a lower court for retrial.

Jan 21, 2006 - Families demand total of 4.4 billion euros ($5.6 billion) from donors trying to end the standoff.

April 22, 2006 - Libya court sets May 11 date for retrial.

April 28 - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the Bulgarian nurses have been detained for too long.

July 4 - Defendants again deny charges.

Aug 8 - AIDS outbreak was deliberate, prosecution says.

Aug 29- Prosecutor demands death penalty.

Oct 31 - Neglect caused HIV infections, the defence says.

Nov 4 - Judgement day set for Dec 19.