Pakistan At least 900 children under the age of 12 in the city of Ratodero were HIV-positive because a doctor suspected of repeatedly reusing infected needles and syringes.

Officials in the city of Ratodero, central Pakistan, fear the actual figure could be higher because less than a quarter of the city's population is tested for HIV. About 200 adults have also tested positive for HIV since the outbreak in the city in April.

The condition is suspected to originate from Muzaffar Ghanghro, a pediatrician who owns one of the cheapest clinics in the city. He was arrested on charges of negligence and manslaughter after many accused Ghanghro of repeatedly reusing needles and needles with their children.

Imtiaz Jalbani, who took six children to Ghanghro's clinic, revealed the doctor had searched the container to find an old needle for his 6-year-old son. When Jalbani protested, Ghanghro declared his father too poor to pay for a new needle. Jalbani's four children tested positive for HIV, of which the two youngest babies died.

"Dr. Ghanghro injected 50 children without exchanging needles," another person with three HIV-infected children after Ghanghro said.

Ghanghro has not yet been convicted and is working at a public hospital on the outskirts of Ratodero, despite Pakistani laws banning bail with people who have been accused of using needles repeatedly. He denied any allegations, asserted his innocence and had never reused needles.

Pakistan is considered to have a low HIV prevalence rate but the disease is spreading at an alarming rate in the country, especially among injecting drug users and prostitutes. The country had about 20,000 HIV infections in 2017 and was identified by the United Nations as the country with the second fastest rising HIV infection rate in Asia.