A.I.D.S. removed from blood

Press, 31 August 1985, Page 21

A.I.D.S. removed from blood

NZPA-AFP Paris The threat of A.I.D.S. for haemophiliacs from blood transfusions has been removed by a team of French doctors who have succeeded in eliminating the deadly disease from contaminated blood.

A French medical publication reported that a research team in Lille, northern France, had just developed a technique that neutralises the acquired immune deficiency syndrome virus by heating plasmabased, frozen-dry products in specific temperature and time conditions.

The “Doctor’s Daily” said tests conducted on A.1.D.5.contaminated blood at the Pasteur Institute in Paris had shown that the technique, developed by Professor Lucien Martinache and Dr Thierry Burnouf, was

effective. The technique has been approved by France’s National Health Laboratory and the research team in Lille’s blood transfusion centre has been delivering A.1.D.5.-free blood for the past week, the daily said.

The National Blood Transfusion Centre in Paris has also developed a separate technique to neutralise the A.I.D.S. virus, also by heating.

It. said its method had yielded good results and had been made available to haemophiliacs since last month.

A.1.D.5., which has been diagnosed most frequently among homosexuals, drug addicts and blood recipients, destroys the immunity system of its victims, making them highly vulnerable to various infections and to cancer.

An official of the French Haemophiliacs’ Association, Mr Gerard Mauvillain, welcomed the development, noting that the “risks of spreading A.LD.S. through the blood are considerable for haemophiliacs. “The development of this technique is good news for us, as long as all haemophiliacs can take advantage of these heated products and all existing stocks which do not provide the same guarantees are destroyed,” said Mr Mauvillain. “Of the 5000-odd haemophiliacs registered in France, we know that hundreds, if not more, now carry the virus. Only some of them develop serious symptoms of the disease and several have died, but the incubation period lasts several years, so we are not able at this stage to assess

the real consequences of the problem,” he said.

Mr Mauvillain said that at present tests to detect A.LD.S. were available to all haemophiliacs, but some transfusion centres were refusing to reveal whether the tests were positive or negative.

In a related development, the Robert Koch Institute in West Berlin, which keeps track of A.I.D.S. cases in West Germany, said that 94 people had died of the disease so far.

According to the World Health Organisation, 468 of the 940 A.LD.S. victims registered in Europe by late March have died. In France, 306 A.LD.S. cases have been recorded and four new cases surface every week, officials said.