The police in Uttar Pradesh’s Bangarmau city on Wednesday arrested a fake doctor for infecting at least 40 people in Unnao district with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, by using a single needle to treat all of them, ANI reported.

Officials discovered the situation while investigating a spike in HIV cases in the area. “Seeing the high number of cases, the health department constituted a two-member committee, which visited various settlements of Bangarmau to investigate the reasons behind the spike,” Chief Medical Officer SP Chaudhury told PTI on Tuesday.

The patients have been referred to an Anti-Retroviral Therapy centre in Kanpur. Some of them told the Hindustan Times on Wednesday that they believed they would recover soon.

“I hope to get back to work once I recover,” a 35-year-old man who tested positive for HIV at the a screening camp on January 25. “I am a labourer and I earn Rs 250 daily.” His wife has also tested positive for HIV in the same camp.

A 14-year-old boy who also tested positive told the Hindustan Times that he is unsure if his friends would accept him. He said his parents too were infected, but that he would not tell them about the deadly nature of the disorder.