BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Four more Kyrgyz toddlers have been infected with HIV in an outbreak blamed on medical negligence, officials said Wednesday, raising the number of people diagnosed to 26.
The latest cases involve children who are 2 and 3 years old and were found after an analysis of blood samples from the southern city of Osh where the outbreak occurred, Erkin Bakiev of the regional AIDS center said.
Health Ministry officials in the former Soviet republic have accused medical staff of accidentally infecting children and adults while administering injections and blood transfusions.
The outbreak has now afflicted 21 children and five adults, four of whom are mothers, Bakiev said.
The health minister earlier fired four medical officials, including the heads of the Osh region's children's hospital and blood transfusion center.
The source of the infection was difficult to identify since the first HIV-diagnosed child was hospitalized 12 times in various medical centers throughout the Central Asian country, the ministry said.
Hundreds of children and their mothers have been checked in southern Kyrgyzstan since the first cases were reported.
