Today's newspaper reported a heart-warming story in a village in West Bengal who has adopted a widow with AIDS. She is allowed to freely mix with the families and even cuddle their children. His husband contracted AIDS which on job in Mumbai. Coming back home he unknowingly passed it on to his wife and three children. He died soon thereafter. Unfortunately their three young children also suffered from AIDS and died. She was left alone. Her mother was unable to support her; her husband's family was unwilling to take her in their fold. Then the village came forward and embraced her, gave her shelter, a new life and a will to live and fight. However I am left with one nagging question: How safe it is to let her handle children?

Children are prone to get cut and bruises in their daily activity. As a house-wife she is likely to get cuts, even minor lesions, from her daily activities. Over a period of time, say several years, the probability of passing on AIDS virus, through blood to blood contact, to the children she is cuddling and caring for looks unreasonably high to me. I think the social worker involved has misinformed the villagers about the real risk of infection through blood contact to children.

Would you take the risk with your children? First of all do you think my perception of risk is real?
What precautions should be taken?