Blood donors will know hepatitis C status in days

THE Irish Blood Transfusion Service will next week begin the process of contacting blood donors who were not told for years that they had tested positive for hepatitis C.

The 28 Munster-based donors, already identified by the blood bank, contracted the virus from infected blood and blood products.

They were unaware for two to three years that they had tested positive for an infectious virus in the early 1990s and, as a consequence, lost valuable time in seeking treatment.