Blood donor had syphilis
A Norwegian man who donated blood to Ullevål University Hospital’s blood bank for 14 years has tested positive for syphilis. He may have infected as many as 37 persons.His syphilis infection was disclosed only after he became a donor at the Drammen blood bank this year, when his blood was subjected to a routine control test.
Ullevål is aware of 37 persons who are known to have received the man's blood. It's unclear, however, when the man actually contracted syphilis, and whether recipients of his blood are infected.
He gave blood at Ullevål's blood bank (Blodbanken i Oslo) as late as March of this year. Blood donated at the Oslo blood bank is in turn distributed to hospitals in both Oslo and Akershus counties.
It also was unclear Friday afternoon whether those known to have received blood from the man have been notified.
Bjørn-Inge Larsen, head of the state health directorate, said he was first informed of the situation this week.
"This is serious, and we must evaluate whether the routines we have for testing blood are good enough," Larsen told Aftenposten.no. "Today, blood donors are only tested for syphilis before they give blood for the first time."
Officials at the blood bank in Drammen say they sent results of the man's blood sample to Ullevål on September 18.
Per Ivar Gaarder, acting leader of the Blood Bank in Oslo, couldn't say why the syphilis infection wasn't discovered earlier, but said the man had never disclosed any information to the blood bank that would have put him in a risk category.
Gaarder claimed the blood bank follows state health rules for blood testing, and did so in this case as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment