--- title: Cambodia: Unlicensed Medic Charged With Murder for Spreading HIV description: 212 HIV cases were found in the community where he practiced canonical: https://time.com/3662719/cambodia-hiv-aids-doctor-murder/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-10T20:45:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:27:50.289Z article:section: Health og:title: Cambodia: Unlicensed Medic Charged With Murder for Spreading HIV og:description: 212 HIV cases were found in the community where he practiced og:url: https://time.com/3662719/cambodia-hiv-aids-doctor-murder/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01f260af3882cee5/698779452dce019c8a9dce2e/cambodia-hiv-doctor.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: HIV found in 100 villagers in Cambodia, nurse charged og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cambodia: Unlicensed Medic Charged With Murder for Spreading HIV twitter:description: 212 HIV cases were found in the community where he practiced twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01f260af3882cee5/698779452dce019c8a9dce2e/cambodia-hiv-doctor.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Unlicensed Cambodian Medic Charged With Murder After Allegedly Spreading HIV  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 10, 2015 8:45 PM UTC  Cambodian officials prepare to inspect the perimeter of a nurse house after a local unlicensed doctor was charged with spreading HIV, in Roka commune in Battambang province, Cambodia, on Dec. 17, 2014. Cambodian officials prepare to inspect the perimeter of a nurse house after a local unlicensed doctor was charged with spreading HIV, in Roka commune in Battambang province, Cambodia, on Dec. 17, 2014.EPA  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 10, 2015 8:45 PM UTC An unlicensed medic is being charged with murder after Cambodian medical authorities found 212 cases of HIV in the district where he had been treating patients, allegedly with contaminated equipment. Yem Chrin treated poor patients and was believed to have healing powers, Reuters [reports](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/10/us-cambodia-hiv-idUSKBN0KJ0DS20150110?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews). However, he did not have a medical license and was allegedly delivering injections and blood transfusions using unclean equipment. Authorities tested 1,940 people in the northwestern province where Yem Chrin worked, and 212 tested positive for HIV. Some children as young as 6 years old tested positive for the virus, according to[ _al-Jazeera_. ](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/12/doctor-charged-cambodia-hiv-outbreak-201412235369468220.html) Yem Chrin allegedly [told police](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/12/doctor-charged-cambodia-hiv-outbreak-201412235369468220.html) that he sometimes used the same syringe on two or three patients before disposing of it. The World Health Organization and UNAIDS found that “the percentage of people that reported receiving an injection or intravenous infusion as part of their health treatment was significantly higher among the people who tested positive for HIV than the people who were HIV negative,” in the area in which Yem Chrin treated patients, Reuters reports. The development is a setback in Cambodia’s largely successful efforts to eradicate the virus since it first spread through the country in the 1990s. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/10/us-cambodia-hiv-idUSKBN0KJ0DS20150110?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3662719/cambodia-hiv-aids-doctor-murder/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3662719/cambodia-hiv-aids-doctor-murder/"},"headline":"Unlicensed Cambodian Medic Charged With Murder After Allegedly Spreading HIV","datePublished":"2015-01-10T20:45:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:27:50.289Z","description":"212 HIV cases were found in the community where he practiced","url":"https://time.com/3662719/cambodia-hiv-aids-doctor-murder/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","medicine","Crime","Disease","Cambodia","HIV","Aids","WHO","World Health Organization","infectious diseases"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01f260af3882cee5/698779452dce019c8a9dce2e/cambodia-hiv-doctor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01f260af3882cee5/698779452dce019c8a9dce2e/cambodia-hiv-doctor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"HIV found in 100 villagers in Cambodia, nurse charged","caption":"HIV found in 100 villagers in Cambodia, nurse charged","creditText":"EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3662719/cambodia-hiv-aids-doctor-murder/","name":"Unlicensed Cambodian Medic Charged With Murder After Allegedly Spreading HIV"}}]}] ```