Eoin Ryan
Question:24 Mr. E. Ryan asked the Minister for Health the reason testing has not been introduced following the incident prior to Christmas involving potentially HIV infected blood; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8127/97]
Written Answers. - HIV Testing Programme.
Limerick East): I have already informed the House that following the introduction of HIV donor screening test by the Blood Transfusion Service Board in October 1985, no lookback was undertaken between 1985 and 1989 in respect of earlier donations made by donors who were now screening positive for HIV. A lookback procedure was in place from 1989 onwards for newly-presenting donors. As the House will be aware the BTSB has intensified its HIV lookback to trace all recipients of potentially HIV-infected blood issues.
Because there can be no guarantee that all or indeed any of the untraced issues will ever be traced, and also because of the possibility that some donors who were HIV positive prior to the introduction of HIV donor screening in October 1985 did not donate after October 1985 and cannot, therefore, be identified, I decided to introduce an optional HIV testing programme to offer screening to blood transfusion and blood product recipients who may be at risk, however small that risk might be.
Before commencing such a programme it is absolutely essential that the risk, if any, involved for recipients must be determined, as far as possible, to enable each recipient to make a fully informed decision, in consultation with his or her general practitioner in relation to availing of screening. The element of risk for recipients will vary according to the year in which they received the transfusion or blood product, and according to the particular product they received. I am hopeful that the preparations for the HIV testing programme, which are well advanced, will be completed in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, the BTSB targeted lookback is continuing and the following is the up to date position as of today. A total of 25 blood donors have tested positive for HIV since screening was introduced in 1985. Eight of those were first time donors and accordingly, no risk of HIV transmission to recipients was involved. In the case of ten of the remaining 17 donors, recipients of potentially infected issues were traced and none of the recipients tested positive.
The tracing of recipients of the issues from the remaining seven donors has been rendered very difficult by the absence of the BTSB despatch records for the period prior to 1986. Of the 33 issues from those seven donors 15 were donated prior to 1981 and are not regarded as a potential source of infection. The residual problem relates to tracing the recipients of the balance of the 18 issues derived from the potentially infected blood donations made prior to 1985. Seven of the issues have been traced leaving 11 issues of concern remaining.