HOW CAN BLOOD SAVE YOUR LIFE?

Conclusion of BLOOD, LIVERS RUINED AND . . .

Then cam headlines such as "Mysterious Hepatitis Non-A, Non-B virus Isolated at Last"; Breaking a Fever in the Blood."  Again, the message was, "The elusive agent is found!" In April 1989, the public was told that a test was available for NANB, now being called hepatitis C.

You might wonder if this relief is premature. In fact, Italian researchers have reported another hepatitis virus, a mutant, which might be responsible for a third of the cases.  "Some authorities," the Harvard Medical School Health Letter (November 1989) observed," worry that A, B, C, and D are not the whole alphabet of hepatitis viruses; yet others may emerge."  The New York Times (February 13, 1990) stated:  "Experts strongly suspect that other viruses can cause hepatitis; if discovered, they will be designated hepatitis E and so on." 

Are blood banks faced with more long searches for tests to make blood safe? Citing the problem of cost, a director of the American Red Cross made this disturbing comment:  "We can't just keep adding test after test for each infectious agent that might be spread." -Medical World News, May 8, 1989.  

Even the test for hepatitis B is fallible; many still contract is from blood. Moreover, will people be satisfied with the announced test for hepatitis C?  The Journal of the American Medical Association (January 5, 1990) showed that a year can pass before antibodies of the disease are detectable by the test.  Meanwhile, people transfused with the blood may face ruined livers - and death. 

Next time: HOW CAN BLOOD SAVE YOUR LIFE?/THE AIDS PANDEMIC

From the Watchtower magazine