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Japan-health-blood: Japan Red Cross supplied 6,400 units of possibly contaminated blood

Agence France-Presse - July 29, 2003
 

TOKYO, July 29 (AFP) - The Japanese Red Cross said it had shipped 6,419 units of possibly contaminated blood products for use in transfusions since June last year through this month, news reports said Tuesday.

Of those units, Red Cross had been able to recall 13 units, with the rest likely to have been used, Jiji Press, Kyodo News and the online edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.

The affected blood products were made from blood donated by people with hepatitis or other viruses, the reports said.

Red Cross officials in Tokyo could not be reached for immediate comment.

The revelation came as the Japan Red Cross recalled donated blood after finding 29 people might have been infected with hepatitis B and C through blood transfusions.

The Red Cross also found that at least one HIV-infected man donated blood without being detected by a rigorous testing system.

Government health officials planned to order the Red Cross to inform those people who received the affected blood products about the health risk, Jiji and Kyodo said.

Officials will call on those individuals to go through medical check-ups, reports said.

The affected donated blood units have cleared a sensitive test.

The conventional screening technology however is not capable of detecting viruses during a certain period after a blood donor was infected.

The Red Cross believes the window period might have allowed the blood products to pass the test despite possible contamination, Kyodo said, citing Red Cross officials.

The Red Cross planned to examine its records for the past eight years for similar cases of possibly contaminated blood products, reports said.

It is believed that tens of thousands of people received possibly contaminated blood products, Jiji added.

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