Pakistan: Children Test Positive For HIV After Bad Blood Infusions
December 4, 2014; Posted by: WeBleed staff
Pakistani children with thalassemia contract HIV due to infected blood transfusions.
Interesting story out of Pakistan today. Fox News reports that up to 10 Pakistani children now have HIV after receiving bad blood transfusions for their thalassemia.
“Most of the professional blood donors are drug abusers,” said Professor Yasmin Rashid, the secretary general of the Thalassaemia Federation of Pakistan, a consortium of charities that offer transfusions to 22,000 children. “I think these cases are probably the tip of the iceberg. It is a scandal.”
Pakistan health laws require blood to be screened for diseases but enforcement has not been adequate. The children require multiple transfusions and each infusion has increased their exposure to tainted blood.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Health could not be reached for comment regarding Fox’s article.
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