ALMATY, Nov 20, 2006 (AFP) - Eighty children in Kazakhstan have been infected with the AIDS virus due to negligent medical care, and eight of them have died from the disease, a children's AIDS charity told AFP Monday.
Several mothers of the children have also been infected, according to Janeta Jazykbayeva, director of the non-governmental organization Defense of Children Against AIDS.
The children, mostly under the age of five, were probably infected in the spring of this year during blood transfusions or from non-sterilised medical equipment.
The AIDS scandal, which erupted in the summer, has already forced out of office the country's health minister and the governor of the southern region where the incidents occurred.
Kazakh health authorities have since tested more than 10,000 children for the HIV virus that can lead to full-blown AIDS, as well as nearly 7,500 people in the region who had blood transfusions.
An inquiry is still under way to determine who was responsible and the exact source of the contaminations.
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