Monday, September 18, 2006

HIV outbreak at Kazakh children's hospital


Sep 18 12:09 PM US/Eastern

Fifty-five children have been infected with the HIV virus in a paediatric hospital in Kazakhstan, likely through unsanitary use of needles, the health ministry said.

"The contamination took place in two wards in a regional paediatric hospital: the intensive care ward and neo-natal care," Health Minister Erbolat Dosayev said in an interview published in the weekly Megapolis on Monday.

The children were likely infected through the repeated use of disposable and non-sterilized syringes or during blood transfusions, Dosayev said.

Officials in this former Soviet republic said last week that four of the infected childen had died from lack of treatment.

The first cases of HIV infection among children in Kazakhstan appeared in May in the south of the country and an investigation was launched in July to determine the source of the infections.

No comments: