Tainted blood donations

Thursday, December 1, 2011

CENTRAL Visayas is among the top three regions in the country where blood units that screen reactive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) come from.

The other two regions are the National Capital Region (NCR) and Davao Region, said Dr. Genesis Samonte, epidemiologist at the HIV Surveillance and Strategic Information Unit of the Department of Health’s (DOH) National Epidemiology Center.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

Together, the three regions account for more than half of the blood units in the country that screened reactive for the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Most of the infected blood came from NCR, Samonte said, with Central Visayas and Davao alternating for second and third place in the last three years.

Blood bags

In the first nine months of this year, 674 blood units or blood bags screened reactive for HIV, already surpassing the whole-year figures of 595 in 2008, and 667 in 2009.

Of the 674 blood units sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) for confirmation, 152 were confirmed positive for HIV.

One blood donor can donate more than one blood unit, so the number of blood units does not refer to the number of blood donors. Samonte said persons can donate blood up to four to five times a year.

RITM is the laboratory for the National Voluntary Blood Services Program, which monitors the safety of donated blood.

Discard

Samonte told Sun.Star Cebu that blood found reactive for HIV, which means showing a likelihood that there is HIV, is no longer used. It is “discarded” by being sent to the RITM, which tests to determine if HIV is really present in the blood.

Blood is screened for five “transfusion-transmissible infections”—malaria, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, syphilis and HIV. If the blood tests positive for any of these, it is discarded.

The highest prevalence of infections in donated blood in the Philippines is in malaria and Hepatitis B, Samonte said, with Hepatitis C and HIV having the lowest prevalence.

But she warned that Cebu has the highest prevalence of Hepatitis C in the country, which has dramatic consequences for its persons living with HIV.
Hepa C and HIV

“We don’t know why. But even in the early 1990s, mataas na ang (there were already many cases of) Hepa C in Cebu,” she said.

This is a cause for concern because if a person has Hepa C and HIV combined, “which is the case among many in Cebu, you’ll die faster.”

The reason is that the drug that combats HIV is highly toxic to the liver, which in Hepa C patients is already weak, as Hepa C attacks the liver.

Like HIV, Hepa C is transmitted through sex and needle pricks, but Samonte said Hepa C is easier to transmit.

Transfusion

In the Philippines, the risk of getting HIV through a blood transfusion is currently at one in two million, said DOH Assistant Secretary Dr. Eric Tayag. But this could change if the HIV threat worsens.

Since 1984, some 20 people have been infected with HIV through blood transfusions. One of these was infected this year—a female above 34 years old.

No sure test

The testing of donated blood, commonly done through an antibody test, is not a sure way to get clean blood, said Dr. Susan Gregorio, Philippine National Aids Council officer-in-charge.

“There is a window period when the test may show a false negative, even if you are highly infective,” she said. “It takes four to six weeks before a person develops antibodies to fight the disease.”

Republic Act 8504, or the Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998, is more conservative, saying this window period could last up to six months.

To detect HIV earlier, an antigen test can be done, said Dr. Ofelia Monzon, Aids Society of the Philippines founding president. “It will give a result earlier than an antibody test.”

Antigens are the substances found on foreign bodies or germs that trigger the production of antibodies. (Tomorrow: Cruising for bruising