Blood-Vital for Life! -Continue with DISEASE FREE OF FRAUGHT WITH DANGER?

Before long it was clear that thousands who were given screened blood still developed hepatitis.  Many, after debilitating illness, learned that their lives were ruined.  But if the blood had been tested, why was this happening? The blood contained another form, called non-A,  non-B hepatitis (NANB).  For a decade it plagued transfusions-between 8 ad 17 percent of those transfused in Israel, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and the United States contracted it. 

Then came 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; 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.

Next time: Blood-Vital for Life! - Conclusion of DISEASE FREE OR FRAUGHT WITH DANGER?

From the jw.org publications