China's official Xinhua news agency says an HIV-positive man in northern China has infected at least 18 people with the virus by repeatedly donating blood before knowing he had the disease. Three of the blood recipients have died.
Xinhua says the man made 15 blood donations in Jilin province's Dehui city between January of 2003 and June of 2004. The report says his blood was apparently never tested for the deadly virus.
China's state media say authorities are investigating the case, and that at least 11 workers of the city's central blood bank have been detained.
China estimates 840,000 people on the mainland are HIV-positive, although some experts suspect there are many more. The World Health Organization says China could have 10 million people infected by 2010.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.