62,388 people tested for hepatitis C

SUMMARISING a report specially prepared for the tribunal, Dr Power said that to date 62,388 people who had received anti-D had…

SUMMARISING a report specially prepared for the tribunal, Dr Power said that to date 62,388 people who had received anti-D had been tested for hepatitis C in Ireland. She pointed out that many more had attended for testing than had received anti-D in 1977/78.

. 999 had registered a reaction, with 863 of those associated with BTSB-infected anti-D.

. 755 of those were associated with anti-D batches issued in, 1977/78.

. Many of the others were infected by other BTSB blood products.

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. One infected anti-D recipient was a plasma donor.

. 113 infected anti-D recipients donated blood after infection.

. 379 donations were made by such people.

. This in turn led to 401 further infected blood products being issued, each of which carried an 80 per cent risk of infecting recipients.

. 40 per cent of the recipients of these latter products "are expected to be alive". (61 people who received hepatitis C from anti-D-derived sources are still believed to be living, and as many as 41 people who were infected from non-anti-D blood products).