India probes transfusions after 23 kids get HIV

September 12, 2011 in HIV & AIDS

At least 23 children who received blood transfusions have tested positive for HIV, Indian officials said on Monday as authorities launched an investigation into a government hospital.

The infected children, aged between five to 10 years, suffer from thalassaemia, a that requires regular transfusions.

Parents said their children received fresh blood at a public hospital in Junagadh district in the western state of Gujarat, 315 kilometres (195 miles) from the city of Ahmedabad.

"We have initiated an inquiry into the case. This is a very serious matter," the state's principal Rajesh Kishore told AFP without giving further details.

All the 23 children had received free blood transfusions between January and August, reports said.

Earlier, Gujarat's Jay Narayan Vyas told reporters that the children may have been infected after receiving blood "at some other places" but parents have blamed tainted blood at the government hospital.

He also said some pre-transfusion tests at another state-run hospital had found that the children already had been infected with HIV.

Indian government estimates that about 2.5 million Indians are living with HIV.

(c) 2011 AFP

send feedback to editors
not rated yet  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

Nanobanano
Sep 12, 2011

Rank: not rated yet
This is why blood transfusions should come from close relatives or friends whenever possible. Not saying a friend or relative "couldn't" have HIV, but you'd be more likely to know it, and they would be more likely to to be aware, at least for your sake.

This is really terrible that 23 children's lives have essentially been ruined and cut short because of this, on top of their already obviously annoying and life threatening genetic disorders.

One wonders how a mistake of this magnitude could even happen. It seems almost as if it would have to be either deliberate, or one of the worst cases of incompetence on the part of the clinic as imaginable. After all, there HAVE been known cases of people knowingly, deliberately spreading HIV and other infections inside hospitals as "revenge" against the more healthy and the more moral, as well as other hospital murders, such as the "Angel of Death" guy who used epinephrin to kill people.
Nanobanano
Sep 12, 2011

Rank: not rated yet
There are no words to describe nor to comfort a family in this terrible debacle.

This is as bad (and even evil if it was intentional) as are murders and aggravated rapes.

I wonder what measures India's legal system has in place to handle such horrible medical malpractice situations?

They came in sick, and they left 'dying' of one of the world's most dreadfu and incurable disease. That's gotta be pretty bad on a hospital's reputation.
Rank not rated yet
Tags

rare genetic disorder, health secretary, health minister, transfusion, hiv, children, blood, hospital, government
Related Stories
more news
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Mortality rates decrease, chronic disease rates increase among HIV+ ICU patients

The expanded use of antiretrovirals, potent drugs used to treat retroviral infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has been linked to significant decreases in hospital mortality rates among severely ill HIV-positive(HIV+) ...

HIV & AIDS created May 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Newly discovered breast milk antibodies help neutralize HIV

Antibodies that help to stop the HIV virus have been found in breast milk. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center isolated the antibodies from immune cells called B cells in the breast milk of infected mothers in Malawi, ...

HIV & AIDS created May 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Reactions to HIV drug have autoimmune cause, reports AIDS journal

Potentially severe hypersensitivity reactions to the anti-HIV drug abacavir occur through an autoimmune mechanism, resulting from the creation of drug-induced immunogens that are attacked by the body's immune system, according ...

HIV & AIDS created May 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Is the U.S. ready for home HIV tests?

At the pharmacy, you can buy anything from tea kettles to Tylenol. But what if you could buy a rapid HIV test over the counter and test yourself in the privacy of your own home?

HIV & AIDS created May 21, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Reduced glycerin formulation of tenofovir vaginal gel safe for rectal use

A change in the formulation of tenofovir gel, an anti-HIV gel developed for vaginal use, may make it safer to use in the rectum, suggests a study published online this week in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. In lab ...

HIV & AIDS created May 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0


Of mice and mental models: Neuroscientific implications of risk-optimized behavior in the mouse

(Medical Xpress) -- Regardless of an organism’s biological complexity, every encephalized animal continuously makes under-informed behavioral choices that can have serious consequences. Despite its ubiquity, ...

Tongue analysis software uses ancient Chinese medicine to warn of disease

For 5,000 years, the Chinese have used a system of medicine based on the flow and balance of positive and negative energies in the body. In this system, the appearance of the tongue is one of the measures used to classify ...

Cancer may require simpler genetic mutations than previously thought

Chromosomal deletions in DNA often involve just one of two gene copies inherited from either parent. But scientists haven't known how a deletion in one gene from one parent, called a "hemizygous" deletion, can contribute ...

Inherited DNA change explains overactive leukemia gene

A small inherited change in DNA is largely responsible for overactivating a gene linked to poor treatment response in people with acute leukemia.

Skp2 activates cancer-promoting, glucose-processing Akt

HER2 and its epidermal growth factor receptor cousins mobilize a specialized protein to activate a major player in cancer development and sugar metabolism, scientists report in the May 25 issue of Cell.

Early physical therapist treatment associated with reduced risk of healthcare utilization and reduced overall healthcare

A new study published in Spine shows that early treatment by a physical therapist for low back pain (LBP), as compared to delayed treatment, was associated with reduced risk of subsequent healthcare utilization and lower ...