An unlicensed Cambodian medical doctor was charged with murder on Monday for allegedly spreading an HIV mass infection among at least 106 villagers in the country's remote north-west, officials said.
Yem Chrin, a 55-year-old self-styled practitioner detained since last week, has admitted to routinely re-using needles and contaminated syringes on different patients of Roka village in the western province of Battambang, Cambodian prosecutors told The Associated Press.
"He has confessed to sometimes reusing needles and syringes over the past years," Battambang provincial police chief Sar Thet said, adding that the 55-year-old, who is not thought to have undertaken formal medical training, "had the intention to infect villagers with the HIV virus."
In November, authorities were alerted of the virus spread after a 74-year-old man, his grand-daughter and son-in-law tested positive and started convincing others to get tested from the same practitioner, 55-year-old Chrin, according to the health ministry.
Upon further investigation, children as young as two and people in their 80s were discovered a month later to have contracted the local epidemic of HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, after authorities started testing the community in Battambang province.
"After I gave birth to my child, I went to this doctor all the time," said a 20-year old mother, who tested positive for HIV and asked not to be named. "I suspect the virus may have been transmitted through injections or intravenously through a drip."
Since the news emerged two weeks ago, hundreds of terrified residents from the remote village have flocked for testing, with more than 100 people believed to have been infected, Reuters reported.
"We charged [Chrin] with spreading the HIV virus to others, brutal murder and operating a medical service without a license," said Nuon San, the provincial court's chief prosecutor.
"He used the same syringes again and again. And he even let villagers owe him the money for the services," provincial deputy police chief Chet Vanny said, adding that the well-respected local doctor was also regarded as having healing powers.
On Monday, formal charges were pressed against Chrin at Battambang provincial court.
"He was charged with three counts which include the intention to infect others with HIV/AIDS, murder with cruel act, and operating an unlicensed clinic," prosecutor San told Agence France-Presse. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Meanwhile, although an update on the toll of infected patients wasn't available over the weekend, the Pasteur Institute told The Phnom Penh Post newspaper on Saturday that it had confirmed at least 119 cases in a third round of testing. However, there have been no deaths reported yet in connection with the case.
The government is being assisted by the U.S. Center for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and Prevention and three UN agencies in the outbreak.
