A multi-billion dollar global campaign against AIDS has suffered a serious setback in Bihar where this deadly disease wiped out an entire family. The incident, which has sent shock waves across the region, is a sad commentary on the much-trumpeted awareness campaign against AIDS in the state in which hundreds of NGOs are involved and allegedly making a fast rupee. Authorities said the deadly HIV virus eliminated a migrant labourer, his wife and their little child whereas his parents died of shock in the last three months. The deaths in the family hailing from Jihuli village under Patahi police station of East Champaran district began this January and on Monday, it came full circle when the last surviving woman member of the family, Parvati Devi, met her torturous end amid heart-rending cries by the local villagers. Reports said Jahindra Sah, who was the head of the family, became HIV positive during his stay in New Delhi where he had migrated sometime back to eke out a living. Villagers said the victim had been unable to pay back a huge loan he had taken from the local money lender on a heavy interest rate. This had forced him to shift to New Delhi to earn money for his family's survival but he ended up contracting HIV. Reports said the victim did not inform his family about his disease nor did he visit the local doctors for treatment out of fear of society. He paid dearly for this as his entire family became gripped by AIDS. According to reports, the first casualty in the family was reported on 2 January this year when Jahindra's three-year-old son Pappu Kumar died of this disease. Some 10 days later, Jahindra himself died. The turmoil in the family caused such a great deal of mental trauma that a few days later, the victim's parents died of shock. And finally on Monday, the victim's wife Parvati also expired. The incident has sent shock waves in the areas as the villagers had no other option other than to helplessly watch the swift destruction of a whole family. The civil surgeon, East Champaran Dr BN Singh said he was trying to find out details of the family but said the health department had geared up to keep a check on the increasing cases of HIV in the bordering region. Health officials said the bordering districts of Bihar had reported a high number of HIV cases, thanks to a large number of labourers who migrate to other parts of the country or to neighbouring Nepal every year in search of livelihood. Health authorities said East Champaran figures among five districts ~ the rest being Araria, Katihar, Sitamarhi and Lakhisarai ~ are identified as "high prevalence zone'. "Migrant labourers are a big headache for us,' said another health official Dr Mithilesh Kumar posted at Sadar Hospital, Motihari, the district headquarters of East Champaran. Keeping in view the seriousness of the situation, the Bihar state AIDS Control Society has chalked out a mainstreaming project under which government officials, panchayat members and the NGOs have to work in tandem to effectively control the HIV cases. According to a National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) estimate, Bihar has a total of 70,000 HIV positive cases. However, a Bihar state AIDS Control Society report confirms only 16,054 persons, including 6,035 women and 789 children, have tested HIV positive till date since the campaign was launched in the state in 1992. In the last eight months itself, 1,468 fresh cases have been detected in Bihar, registering an increase of about 34 per cent from those reported last year, revealing how the AIDS bomb is ticking fast in the state. The first AIDS case in Bihar, according to officials, was reported from Nawada district in 1992 and in the last 15 years this disease has now taken over the entire state, stunning the authorities while the NGOs continue to profit from campaign money.