Police find Aust, ally on testing

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 12

Police find Aust, ally on testing

PA ‘ Whakatane A 10 per cent sample testing gives enough indication of whether police need immunisation against infectious diseases, according to an Australian doctor, Ron Lucas. Dr Lucas, of Melbourne’s Fairfield Hospital, is one of several working closely with the research on hepatitis B in the eastern Bay of Plenty, who say a test of 10 per cent of frontline police should be made, instead of the 3000 out of 5200 police as announced recently. Mr Sandy Milne, the technologist who has led the research in the eastern bay, said there was no question that the police deserved consideration and the least they could expect was a sample survey.

“However, I am astonished that this has developed into a full-blown national programme without proper scientific scrutiny,” he said. He said an initial testing of 10 per cent frontline police would suffice rather than the suggested programme which, at the estimated $lO to $l5 a head, will cost $45,000. “Normally, any Statefunded studies such as this would be audited by the Medical Research Council’s expert working committee on viral hepatitis,” Mr Milne said. The move to test against the virus came after pressure from the Police Association to protect its officers from bleeding or bloodsplattered members of the public who may be carriers of hepatitis B or A.I.D.S.