Kyrgyz medical workers charged with infecting 49 children with HIV

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Prosecutors in Kyrgyzstan said Thursday that 14 health professionals will face trial for allegedly infecting children with HIV. A spate of HIV infections that affected 41 toddlers and eight adults has shocked the impoverished Central Asian nation, deepening concerns over conditions in medical facilities and the quality of health workers. The Prosecutor General's Office says the health workers in the southern Osh region have been charged with negligence while administering injections and blood transfusions. Officials said the source of the infection was difficult to identify because the first child to be diagnosed with HIV had been hospitalized 12 times in various medical centers throughout Kyrgyzstan. Hundreds of children and their mothers have been checked in southern Kyrgyzstan since the first cases were reported in July.