ALMATY - Seventy-five children and eight mothers have been found infected with the HIV virus due to medical negligence in Kazakhstan, the health ministry said Friday.
"Seventy-five children have been contaminated with HIV," said Nagima Zholdasova, local head of the health ministry in southern Kazakhstan.
Six of the children infected have already died, officials said.
Last week, 69 children and five mothers had been registered as infected.
Zholdasova said health authorities have so far tested 9,035 of the 10,175 people who may have been contaminated while they were being treated in hospitals between January and March.
The children appear to have been infected during blood transfusions or by being injected with unsterilised needles, authorities say.
An enquiry that opened in March to determine the cause of the infections is still under way.
According to official figures, as of June 1 there were 6,485 people infected with HIV in Kazakhstan, of whom 58 were under 14.
10/06/2006 11:26 GMT