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contaminated blood since 2004
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Contaminated Blood Products
Contaminated Blood Products
UK blood products have infected tens of thousands with hepatitis C before 1993
The Canadian prevalence used during the Justice Krever Inquiry noted these products created 40% more infections on top of their transfusion infections. We use these products in identical ways and similar amounts eg Factor VIII, Surgical Strips, Pooled Plasma's, Gammagard for mothers with hemorrhaging during childbirth. With respect to the Factor VIII product the data on UK infections has been excellently presented at http://www.taintedblood.info/index.php
With pooled plasma products (much of the above) 1 hepatitis c unit of blood would contaminate and make infectious all 100,000 it is mixed with.
The scale of the products used is clarified by the British Blood Products Laboratory below -
Every year the following plasma products provide vital treatment for patients:
• 5,000 kilos of albumin are used each year in hospitals for the treatment of burns, shock and major trauma.
• 2,000 kilos of intravenous immunoglobulin is supplied to UK patients with immune disorders, including 1,800 patients with primary immune deficiency who require an injection every two to three weeks throughout their lives, to protect them against infection.
• 120,000 bottles of anti-D immunoglobulin are used each year to protect unborn children suffering from haemolytic diseases of the newborn. This affects around 64,000 pregnancies a year and, in a small number of cases, can cause stillbirth, severe disability or death after birth from anaemia or jaundice.
• 25,000 vials of specific immunoglobulins offering protection against a range of diseases such as hepatitis B, tetanus and varicella zoster. Alpha 1 Acid Glycoprotein, has been granted ods"
Overseas many nations have had product recalls for the Hepatitis C Transmission issues occuring from before 1994, yet in the UK there has been a remarkable lack of awareness of the fact and even less testing of patients to ascertain their Hepatitis C status, see below
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/11/03
Bayer AG Unit, 4 Others Are Sued Over Medicine
Taiwan Citizens Allege Firms Knew Clotting Drug Could Have HIV Taint
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Lawyers representing seven Taiwan citizens have filed suit in a California court against the U.S. unit of Bayer AG of Germany and four other pharmaceutical companies, alleging the companies knowingly sold hemophilia medicine that could have been tainted with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The suit, filed Thursday in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, alleges that a Bayer Corp. unit, Cutter Biological, and four other U.S. and U.S.-registered companies sold a blood-clotting injection called Factor VIII in Taiwan in the mid-1980s that they knew could be tainted with HIV. The other companies are Baxter Healthcare Corp.; Armour Pharmaceutical Co.; the Aventis Behring unit of Aventis SA of France; and Alpha Therapeutic Corp. of California, a unit of Japan's Mitsubishi Pharma Corp. whose assets are in the process of being sold off to Baxter and other companies.
The seven plaintiffs include one person who contracted AIDS, allegedly after using the clotting-factor, and his family members, as well as the family members of another person who died of AIDS, allegedly contracted through Factor VIII.
The Factor VIII product was made from donated blood plasma. With the spread of AIDS in the early 1980s, U.S. regulators approved in February 1984 a version of the medication that was heat-treated to kill the HIV virus. The suit alleges that Cutter and the other defendants continued to sell stockpiles of the untreated drug in Taiwan and other overseas markets for more than a year afterward
Japan Hepatitis C scare halts use of surgical adhesive
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on Tuesday ordered a pharmaceutical company to stop the sale of an imported surgical tissue adhesive after an elderly man was found to have contracted the hepatitis C virus after his liver functions weakened following an operation.
The man, who is in his 70s, suffered decreased liver function following an operation in May last year, during which the tissue adhesive Takokonbu was used.
One of the basic ingredients in Takokonbu is fibrinogen, which is found in human blood, and is culled from blood supplies in the United States. The adhesive is used to prevent blood and other bodily fluids from leaking from internal organs during surgery. Takokonbu has been shipped to medical institutions throughout the country.
