Monday, November 29, 2010

Hepatitis scandal

Published Monday November 29, 2010
Hepatitis scandal a call to arms


"The Fremont hepatitis outbreak, which infected at least 99 people, compelled McKnight to create HONOReform, an organization dedicated to promoting sanitary practices in medical settings.

A study done by Perz and others indicates that the problem is especially prevalent at free-standing clinics for pain management, colonoscopies and dialysis. Nursing homes are another problematic setting, evidently because some residents share finger-pricking devices, or nurses reuse them, to monitor diabetes".



The woman from Croydon Hills, in Melbourne's outer east, works at the late-term abortion clinic in Croydon at which 41 female patients are believed to have contracted hepatitis C.
Detectives charged the woman last night with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The 41 women had all been treated by anaesthetist James Latham Peters, 61, who has hepatitis C.



National Post - Nov 9, 2010

TOKYO (Reuters) -

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is set to meet hepatitis patients at the centre of a high-profile scandal over tainted blood on Tuesday as he tries to quell a row that risks further eroding his support ratings.
The planned meeting, confirmed by a lawyer for the patients, comes on the heels of Fukuda's surprise announcement on Sunday that his ruling coalition would draft legislation to compensate all patients under equal conditions.
Fukuda, who already faces voter anger over mishandled pension records and a bribery case involving a former top defense official, was dealt another blow last week when patients who had sued the government and drug makers rejected a government proposal for compensation.
The patients turned down the government plan that would aid 1,000 patients, because it aimed to pay sufferers according to when they had been administered tainted products. The patients have also demanded that the government make clear its responsibility in the scandal.
At least 10,000 people are estimated to have contracted hepatitis C from tainted products. Most cases have been linked to fibrinogen, a coagulant used to stop hemorrhaging during surgery or childbirth and sold in Japan even after it was withdrawn in the United States in 1977.
In October, the government was embarrassed when Health Ministry officials admitted to having data that would have helped identify or warn hundreds of hepatitis patients before their illnesses worsened.
Hepatitis C can lead to chronic liver infection and cirrhosis. About 1 percent to 5 percent of people with the disease eventually die from long-term infection, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The patients had repeatedly asked for a meeting with Fukuda in recent weeks but were turned down, even as media criticized the prime minister as being cold-hearted.
Fukuda's meeting with the patients would come a week after public opinion polls found support ratings for Fukuda's cabinet had plunged to just over 30 percent, a level analysts say is crucial to stay in power.
(Reporting by Chisa Fujioka, editing by George Nishiyama)




By EMMA MORTON
Published: 19 Apr 2007

BRITISH doctors used kids as guinea pigs by giving them blood riddled with HIV and deadly hepatitis, the Sun can reveal.
Medics knew some donors were heroin-injecting prisoners in American jails, but still tested their “high risk” blood on young Brit haemophiliacs.
Victims were aged from just three months to 15.
The truth emerged as Lord Archer of Sandwell opened a public inquiry in London into the scandal.
Yesterday, one health expert likened the child victims to “canaries sent down into the mines”. Most haemophiliacs were not told they had HIV or hepatitis for several years

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