Four babies die in suspected Kazakh HIV case

ASTANA, Sep 8 (Reuters) At least four babies have died in Kazakhstan following transfusion of blood suspected of being infected with the HIV virus, health officials said today.

The health ministry said 49 children aged from two months to 10 years have been infected over the past few months in a number of hospitals in the south of the Central Asian state.

''The ones who died were all younger than two years old,'' a ministry official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The health ministry said separately in a statement that health officials and law enforcement agencies were looking for at least 13 donors suspected of providing infected blood.

HIV/AIDS infection levels increased dramatically across Central Asia since the collapse of the Soviet Union, mainly among drug addicts and in prisons. The region lies on a key heroin trafficking route from Afghanistan to Europe.

REUTERS PB RK1328