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Witness History: The woman who smuggled HIV into Bulgaria in her handbag

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The woman who smuggled HIV into Bulgaria in her handbag

01/12/2022 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, The woman who smuggled HIV into Bulgaria in her handbag

Virologist Professor Radka Argirova was the first to test people for HIV in Bulgaria

In the 1985 Bulgarian virologist Professor Radka Argirova smuggled a live HIV sample from Germany to her home. It meant testing was possible in Bulgaria for the first time.

In 1985, at the height of the Cold War, Bulgaria was a strictly controlled communist dictatorship. 

It was also facing a wave of infection and death caused by a mysterious new virus. The authorities refused to recognise the threat of HIV and AIDS, so one of Bulgaria’s virologists took the initiative.

In this programme for World Aids Day, Professor Radka Argirova tells Janet Barrie how she smuggled the live HIV virus back from Germany to start testing in Bulgaria for the first time.

(Photo: Professor Radka Argirova in her laboratory. Credit: BBC)

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