I recieved the following alert from my close friend through email. Please read the following carefully. Don't forgot to read the second quote too, which is even more important than the first one!
Dear All,(Don't avoid Pls read this mail)FROMArvind Khamitkar , I.A.S,Director of Medical & Research Div,ChennaiDear Friends and Public,A few weeks ago, in a movie theatre, a person felt something poking from her seat.When she got up to see what it was, she found a needle sticking out of the seat with a note attached saying "You have just been infected by HIV". The Disease Control Center (in Paris ) reports many similar events in many other cities recently. All tested needles were HIV Positive.The Center also reports that needles have been found in cash dispensers at public banking machines.We ask everyone to use extreme caution when faced with this kind of situation. All public chairs/seats should be inspected with vigilance and caution before use. A careful visual inspection should be enough. In addition, they ask that each of you pass this message along to all members of your family and your friends of the potential danger.Recently, one doctor has narrated a somewhat similar instance that hppened to one of his patients at the Priya Cinema in Delhi . A young girl, engaged and about to be married in a couple of months, was pricked while the movie was going on. The tag with the needle had the message welcome to the World of HIV family". Though the doctors told her family that it takes about 6 months before the virus grows strong enough to start damaging the system and a healthy victim could survive about 5-6 years, the girl died in 4 months, perhaps more because of the "Shock thought".We all have to be careful at public places, rest God help! Just think about saving a life by forwarding this message. Please, take a few seconds of your time to pass along.With Regards, Arvind Khamitkar ,I.A.S, Director of Medical & Research Div, Chennai.Rather than forwarding irrelevant mails, kindly pass this to every one. Probably ur mail can help some save his/her life .At first glance you will not think if this mail is genuine or a hoax because an I.A.S Director of Medical & Research Div from Chennai himself has written this story based on his experience, and have circulated it through email in order to alert millions of people. But unlike the so called educated people (for whom forwarding a mail is just a mouse click away), my skeptic mind didn't allow me to believe this story. So instead of clicking on forward button, I
Googled for Arvind Khamitkar and here is what I found. I have reproduced the entire story (bold emphasis added by me), the original of which can be found from
newswing.
A hoax mail is causing sensation among netizens these days. The mail is warning about people being prickled by HIV infected needles in public places. Though, the original mailer is still to be traced out.The mailer naming himself Arvind Khamitkar, I.A.S, Director of Medical & Research Division, Chennai, tells an instance of a girl from delhi who was infected by HIV virus containing needle and died in 4 months. He claims that the needle had a tag, which read ‘‘Welcome to the family of HIV.’’The Health Department officials have described the e-mail as a hoax.‘‘There is no such IAS officer or Department in Tamil Nadu. There is no cause for an alarm’’ a senior Health official said.Dr Usman, former director of Institute of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Government General Hospital said, ‘‘For the virus to be transmitted, it has to freshly taken in the syringe and the anti-coagulants had to be mixed.The virus stays fresh till the blood is moist and it has to injected immediately on a person. But in the hot climates the virus cannot survive outside for long.’’‘‘I would call this a combination of spam and prank,’’ said Na Vijayashankar, director, Cyber Law College, Chennai. According to him, especially younger Internet users indulge in such crimes to prove their technical capabilities and to satisfy their ego.The police can easily trace the Internet Protocol address from which the e-mail had originated, he said.- KellyThe fact that the story is being circulated again and again in the internet shows that huge number of people still believe it to be true! The irony is that these same people, who has the privilege to access the internet and email, are called as "educated" in our society!
