New Delhi: Fourteen children who received blood transfusions were found to be infected with Hepatitis B, C and HIV, according to Hindustan Times.

The children were given blood transfusion for thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder that result in abnormal hemoglobin levels. The 14 children received blood transfusions at various private and district hospitals, but the infections were revealed after tests were conducted at Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital in Kanpur.

The children, who are between 6 and 16 years old, hail from different parts of the state like Kanpur City, Dehat, Farrukhabad, Auraiya, Etawah and Kannauj. Seven of them tested positive for Hepatitis B, five for Hepatitis C and two for HIV.

Officials of the hospital believe that tests for viruses – meant to be conducted procedurally on donated blood – might have been ineffective, resulting in the infections, Hindustan Times reported.

Dr Arun Arya, head of the hospital's paediatrics department, said the hepatitis patients were referred to the gastroenterology department and the HIV patients to the referral centre in Kanpur.

He said that for a period of time after someone was infected, the virus cannot be detected by tests.

“At the time of transfusion, the doctors should have [also] vaccinated the children against Hepatitis B,” he told HT.

“District-level officials will trace the root of infection under the Viral Hepatitis Control Programme. The team will look for the place of infection, both for hepatitis and HIV,” a senior official of the Uttar Pradesh National Health Mission was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

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