Fourteen medical workers in Kyrgyzstan are to face trial for allegedly infecting 42 children with HIV. The workers have been charged with malpractice and negligence after they allegedly infected 41 toddlers and eight adults with HIV.

The Prosecutor General's Office charged the health workers in the southern Osh region with negligence while administering injections and blood transfusions.

According to official figures, there are about 1,500 people with HIV in the ex-Soviet republic of five million. It is 15 times more than in 2002.

Officials are still investigating the source of the infection. The first child to be diagnosed with HIV had been hospitalized 12 times in various medical centres throughout Kyrgyzstan.

Those accused include doctors, nurses and a chief administrator. If convicted they face prison terms of between five and 10 years, BBC reports. The first cases were reported in July and since then hundreds of children and their mothers have been checked in southern Kyrgyzstan.

In 2007, at least 21 medical workers were sentenced to prison terms for infecting 150 children with HIV in Kazakhstan. At least 30 other children tested positive for HIV since the investigation into the outbreak first began last summer. More cases continue to emerge all the time.