8-Month-Old Baby Tests Positive For HIV After Receiving Infected Blood

An 8-month-old baby in India contracted HIV after she received blood contaminated with the virus.

The government in the state of Maharashtra, where the incident took place, launched an investigation into the matter Thursday, and demanded a report within three days.

"I have ordered inquiry. We will take strict action against the guilty. No one will be spared as this carelessness has put the girl's life in danger," Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope said, according to Mid-Day.

The victim's family told the local media that she was given blood sourced from a blood bank on a doctor's instructions. The doctor had said the girl had low white blood cell count. However, it wasn't revealed where the doctor worked or where the girl was admitted.

After the transfusion, the girl seemed to have recovered. But, she continued to fall sick frequently.

"She was taken to Amravati (a district in Maharashtra) last month after she started falling sick. HIV test was conducted as there was no clear diagnosis of any ailment, and it came out positive," a senior health official said, according to News 18.

"Her parents tested negative for HIV. Then doctors found that she had undergone blood transfusion in Akola (a town in the state)," he said, adding: "Every blood bank has to carry out several tests including HIV for donated blood. We will have to find out why the HIV infection in the blood stock was not detected."

The exact date when the girl was given the HIV contaminated blood was not revealed. The current condition of the girl is also unknown.

HIV is usually transmitted through sexual intercourse, infected blood and from an infected mother to the baby in her womb or through breastfeeding.

In 2018 in India, a 24-year-old pregnant woman tested positive for HIV after she was given infected blood during transfusion at a government hospital. The incident took place in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The eight months pregnant woman arrived at the government hospital and was told she needed a transfusion because she was anemic. She was given blood from the hospital's blood bank, but it later emerged the donor of the blood that was transfused was HIV-positive. A week after receiving the blood, the woman became unwell.