The list of donors handed over to the police by the RCC had people over the age of 45, fueling suspicion that persons engaged in selling blood for money might be among the donors. Thiruvananthapuram: Two more patients are suspected to have received infected blood at the Regional Cancer Center (RCC) in Thiruvananthapuram from where a nine-year-old girl contracted HIV infection allegedly through blood transfusion during treatment.
If the same donor’s blood products had transfused in other people, the chances of them getting tested positive for HIV is high, sources said. Blood collected from a donor could be used for the treatment of at least three people after separating it into components such as red blood cells, platelets, and plasma.
The girl, a leukemia patient, underwent only platelet transfusions to optimize her hemoglobin levels. It is suspected that the plasma and the red blood cells collected from that donor might have used for the treatment of two other patients. Efforts are on to identify them with the help of hospital records.
Meanwhile, the Medical College police registered a case and, as part of the inquiry, they will trace and examine as many as 49 donors who donated blood for the victim’s treatment. The girl had undergone platelet transfusion 49 times ever since the RCC admitted her.
The investigators are currently monitoring the donors to check whether they display the high-risk behaviors associated with infectious diseases. Donors who fall under this category would be screened and tested for HIV.
The list of donors handed over to the police by the RCC had people over the age of 45, fueling suspicion that persons engaged in selling blood for money might be among the donors.
The police have confirmed that the victim had not undergone blood transfusion either at the private hospital in Alappuzha, where she was first admitted with fever, or at the Alappuzha Medical College Hospital, where she was diagnosed with blood cancer.
However, her blood samples had been tested at laboratories at these hospitals as well as private labs in Alappuzha and Haripad. The possibility of HIV infection from syringes used by these labs would also be probed, the police said.
The report of the government-appointed expert panel, headed by joint director of Medical Education K. Sreekumari, found no human error or negligence on the part of the RCC leading to the incident.
The findings of the Kerala State AIDS Control Society, which also inquired into the circumstances that may have led to the patient contracting HIV, were also along similar lines. The report would be submitted to the Health Department on Wednesday.
The internal probe conducted by the RCC also found that all stipulated blood safety guidelines were meticulously followed by the blood bank at the hospital.
Meanwhile, a confirmatory test for HIV would be carried out on a girl hailing from Idukki, who is currently undergoing treatment at the RCC.
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