380 kids infected with HIV through contaminated blood in UK, inquiry finds

AROUND 380 children were infected with HIV through contaminated blood products in the UK, an inquiry has said.

It is more than double the number previously estimated.

The Infected Blood Inquiry has heard the scandal occurred after the UK imported contaminated products to treat haemophilia and other blood disorders.

They came from people who were paid to donate blood, including prisoners and drug addicts.

About 2,400 people died in what has been called the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.

Jenni Richards KC, counsel to the Infected Blood Inquiry, wrote: "The Inquiry's current view of the number of children likely to have been infected with HIV through blood products in the UK is that the figure of 175 derives from the HIV Haemophilia Litigation as the number who were still children at the time of the settlement.

"The Inquiry estimates that the number of people who were children when infected is more than two times that number. "