Originally published October 24 2005
Illegal blood donations caused HCV outbreak in central China
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Journal of Infectious Diseases has published a study that has uncovered the cause of high Hepatitis C infection rates in central China, and that cause was a large number of illegal blood donations.
Some blood donation facilities in rural China illegally pooled blood and reinfused compatible red blood cells to permit more frequent donations.
Although government action has markedly curtailed such practices since the late 1990s, blood collection and banking methods in such settings still need to be monitored and improved, the article noted.
Researchers from the United States and China, including Han-zhu Qian, MD, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, conducted a survey in 2003 among a random sample of 538 adult residents from 12 former commercial plasma-donating villages in Shanxi Province.
HCV rates were 8% in all participants, 28% in former plasma/blood donors, and about 3% in non-donors.
Receiving a blood transfusion was also independently associated with HCV; villagers who received blood transfusion had about 8 times the risk of HCV infection than those who had no history of blood transfusion.
Among the 538 villagers, 22 percent had a history of selling blood or plasma; from village to village, the rates ranged from 9 percent to 49 percent.
Villagers began to sell blood as early as in 1973 and as late as 1998; the main reasons for stopping were improved economic status, concern about health effects of blood drawing, abnormal liver function tests or hepatitis, and shut-down of the illegal blood center.
The investigators concluded that unhygienic plasma donation and receipt of blood transfusion are strong risk factors for HCV infection in rural central China, and that improved blood collection and blood banking practices remain an urgent health priority.
"Technical support and drugs are needed to assist these central Chinese provinces cope with the care and treatment needs of HCV patients," the investigators added.
In an accompanying editorial, Roger Y. Dodd, PhD, of the American Red Cross noted that the study is "a snapshot of past events and should not be taken to define the present circumstances."
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