Transfusion-related hep C group ‘horrified’ at new case

A GROUP representing women infected with hepatitis C through contaminated blood product said they were horrified to learn a woman was diagnosed with the virus following a recent blood transfusion.

Chairperson of Positive Action, Detta Warnock, said the case of Eileen Kelly, from Killarney, Co Kerry, was extremely worrying given that the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has screened all donors for hep C infection since the early 1990s.

Ms Kelly, 76, was diagnosed with hep C last year, four months after she received the last of three blood transfusions.

The first was in September 2004 after Ms Kelly contracted the MRSA superbug while in hospital for orthopaedic surgery on her foot.

Two further transfusions followed in February 2005.

The IBTS has ruled out a transfusion-transmitted infection, saying all five donors whose blood was given to Ms Kelly have since re-tested negative for hep C.

However, the source of Ms Kelly’s infection remains unknown, and a sample of her viral strain is now being compared the strain of hep C associated with BTSB Anti-D immunoglobin.

Anti-D, a blood product given to some women at childbirth, infected around 1,200 women in the State with hep C between the mid-1970s and early 1990s.

Ms Kelly’s son, Dennis, said his mother never received Anti-D, but yesterday Positive Action said it was possible Ms Kelly had received Anti-D injections unknown to herself.

This is despite the fact that Ms Kelly’s blood type is Rhesus Positive, while

Anti-D was only given to women whose blood was Rhesus Negative and whose baby was Rhesus Positive.

“There is every possibility that she got it in error. We have come across women who in the past were given Anti-D when they should not have been, and developed hepatitis C as a result,” Ms Warnock said.

There is also a possibility Ms Kelly contracted hep C while undergoing surgical treatment in the US about 50 years ago.

Meanwhile Fine Gael health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey said the source of Ms Kelly’s infection needed to be clarified in the interests of public health safety.

“The IBTS tells us its donors were clear, but this woman had none of the risk factors normally associated with hep C infection.

“The focus of any investigation should be to give plausible reasons for her infection. The public needs to be re-assured.”