HIV/AIDS Infections Spur Peru Blood Bank Closings
Pastor Dale Morgan
HIV/AIDS Infections Spur Peru Blood Bank Closings*
By EDISON LOPEZ
The Associated Press
Thursday, September 13, 2007; 8:33 PM
LIMA, Peru -- Peruvian officials have closed the country's 240 blood
banks after at least four people were infected with HIV/AIDS from blood
transfusions in a public hospital.
Health Minister Carlos Vallejos said Thursday the blood banks will be
inspected by a commission that will include officials from the World
Health Organization.
"This situation cannot continue," Vallejos told a news conference. "All
of Peru's blood banks are being reviewed."
A Health Ministry investigation found that Judith Rivera, a 44-year-old
mother of four, was infected with the virus after receiving blood
transfusions during an operation for a tumor in her uterus in April at a
state hospital in Callao, Lima's port city.
Vallejos confirmed three other cases, including that of an 11-month-old
infant, all at the same hospital.
On Thursday, a 17-year-old boy told local media that he was also
infected with HIV after receiving a transfusion at the hospital, but the
ministry had not yet confirmed the case.
Jose Cruz, an adviser on blood and laboratory safety for the
Washington-based Panamerican Health Organization, called Peru's blood
banks "worrying."
He said Peru is the organization's list, along with Bolivia, Colombia
and Mexico, of countries that fail to perform preliminary disease
screening all blood collected in blood banks.
The organization's most recent figures show almost a quarter of the
blood Peru's banks receive is not properly screened, Cruz said.
Vallejos said Peru fulfills international standards for blood donation
screening.
The United Nations estimates that some 93,000 of Peru's 27 million
people are HIV positive.