A B S T RA C T
Background: South Africa has one of the highest numbers of rapes in the world, and Transkei, a former black homeland, now a part of the Eastern Cape Province, is one locality with many child rapes. The unemployment, poverty and crime levels are very high in the region. Objective: To highlight the problem of sexual abuse and HIV in the Transkei region of South Africa. Case History: This report presents a victim of rape, a two-year-old female child, who was brought to the Umtata General Hospital in the evening with profusely bleeding per vaginum. She was sexual assaulted by a HIV positive caretaker adult male in his 30s, acting on a mistaken belief that sex with a virgin will cure an HIV-infected person or AIDS sufferer of his illness. The young mother of the victim has also experienced a rape in her childhood, and her husband was murdered a year ago in front of her child. She does not know about her father and was raped in her childhood by a foster father. The history, the physical examination and the uneventful antiretroviral therapy are discussed in this manuscript. Conclusions is drawn and preventive steps are suggested. Conclusion: There is a high misconception and strong misbelief in child sexual abuse and a cure of HIV infection in the Transkei region of South Africa.