New Delhi: According to reports, 14 children who received blood transfusions were found to be infected with hepatitis B, C and HIV. hindustan times.
The children received blood transfusions for thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder that causes abnormal hemoglobin levels. The 14 children received blood transfusions at various private and district hospitals, but the infection was found during examination at Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital in Kanpur.
The children, aged between 6 and 16 years old, come from different parts of the state such as Kanpur, Dehat, Farrukhabad, Auraiya, Etawah and Kannauj. Seven tested positive for hepatitis B, five tested positive for hepatitis C and two tested positive for HIV.
Hospital officials believe that procedural virus testing of donated blood may have been ineffective, leading to infection. hindustan times reported.
Dr Arun Arya, director of paediatrics at the hospital, said hepatitis patients were referred to the gastroenterology department and HIV patients to the referral center in Kanpur.
He said that the virus cannot be detected through testing for a period of time after a person is infected.
“Doctors should vaccinate children against hepatitis B at the time of blood transfusion,” he told us HT..
“District-level officials will trace the source of infection as per the viral hepatitis control plan. The team will look for places of infection of hepatitis and HIV,” the newspaper quoted a senior official of the Uttar Pradesh State Health Corps as saying.