U.S. blood imports to be halted

Press, 25 June 1983, Page 3

U.S. blood imports to be halted

PA Wellington A Government advisory committee has recommended that blood imports from the United States be suspended to reduce the risk of the fatal A.I.D.S. disease entering New Zealand. The Epidemiology Advisory Committee also wants A.I.D.S. — the acquired immune deficiency syndrome — declared a notifiable disease. The committee says that the Health Department should try urgently to find another source of supply for imported blood concentrate needed for transfusions for patients with certain blood disorders. It is believed the disease, which breaks down the body’s resistance to infection and kills most of its victims, can be passed on by blood donors. It was first reported in homosexual communities in the United States and has since spread to Europe and Australia. Homosexuals and drug addicts are its most common victims but a small number of haemophiliacs, people who need regular blood transfusions to help their blood to clot, have also been found with the disease. In New Zealand blood transfusion centres have already asked homosexuals and drug addicts who inject

directly into their veins not to give blood. Until the situation was clarified it was felt that the Health Department should investigate an alternative source of supply, said the department’s director of health promotion, Dr Campbell Begg. The chances of someone catching the disease from a transfusion were very, small, although a few cases had shown up in the United States, said Dr Begg. “The committee has recommended that the condition be made a notifiable disease under the Health Act and we will be giving very serious and urgent consideration to this,” Dr Begg said. The department would have to seek an Order-in-Council to make the disease notifiable. The Health Department has already asked doctors to reportany suspected cases.