ALMATY, Sept 29, 2006 (AFP) - Sixty-nine children and five mothers are now known to have been infected by the HIV virus in a medical negligence scandal in Kazakhstan, the health ministry said Friday.
"The virus has been detected in 69 children as well as five mothers," health ministry spokeswoman Moris Abdulin told AFP.
The infections, which took place between January and March in southern Kazakhstan, have already led to the deaths of five children.
The children appear to have been infected during blood transfusions or by being injected with unsterilised needles in hospitals, authorities say.
The infections have prompted a massive campaign to test children who may have become infected.
Abdulin said that 8,900 out of 12,285 children who may have come into contact with the virus had been tested.
The scandal has prompted the resignations of the health minister and the governor of the southern region, while President Nursultan Nazarbayev has denounced those responsible.
An enquiry opened in March to determine the cause of the infections and is still under way.
According to official figures, as of June 1 there were 6,485 people infected with HIV in Kazakhstan, of which 58 were under 14.
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