At least 40 people become HIV positive in an Indian village, with another 500 cases expected to come up

In a horrifying incident in India's northern state Uttar Pradesh, at least 40 people from a village in Unnao have become infected with HIV after a quack used an infected syringe to treat all the sufferers.

A case has already been registered with the Bangarmau police station in Unnao district against the quack. According to some reports, the quack has been identified as one Rajendra Kumar.

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According to ANI, the local people used to go to the quack for medical treatment, and he used the same syringe on everyone. 

The news of the widespread infection came to light after a health camp was organized in the villages of the Bangarmau area in Uttar Pradesh in November 2017.

Chief Medical Officer Dr SP Chaudhary said a team had visited Premganj and Chakmirpur areas of Bangarmau and filed a report. Following that, the health camps were held in these three places on January 24, January 25 and January 27.

"Seeing the high number of cases, the health department constituted a two-member committee which visited various hamlets of Bangarmau to investigate the reasons behind the spike," said Chaudhary.

Area councilor Sunil Bangarmau told ANI that if proper tests are done, at least another 500 cases would come to light.

UP Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said: "It's being investigated. Action will be taken against the culprits and those who practice without a license. Since it's a transit point, HIV carriers are likely to come there. So we're mapping truck drivers who come there, and offer treatment to them."

The victims are being treated at Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) center in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

There were a total of 2.1 million HIV positive people in India at the end of 2016. As per the data from the UNAIDS Ending AIDS Report 2017, the rate of HIV infection has been decreasing in the past couple of years as 80,000 people were affected in 2016 while the number was 150,000 in 2005.