AIDS from a blood transfusion at a hospital?
Friday, July 10, 2009 16:02 | Filled in Infectious Diseases
ListenToMaMa asked:
My mother’s 70 year old best friend of 40 years was just told she has AIDS. This woman could barley walk as she has a lot of aliments. She absoulty did not get it from sexual activity. She had a blood transfusion 5 years ago and another one 2 years ago. I know hospitals test blood, but could this happen? What if the donor was just exposed the virus and decided to give blood?
My mother’s 70 year old best friend of 40 years was just told she has AIDS. This woman could barley walk as she has a lot of aliments. She absoulty did not get it from sexual activity. She had a blood transfusion 5 years ago and another one 2 years ago. I know hospitals test blood, but could this happen? What if the donor was just exposed the virus and decided to give blood?
Does anyone work at a hospital know how this works.
This is so heartbreaking and SCARY!
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Kayla says:
July 13th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Well, my mother is a nurse and she always talks about these things at dinner.
It IS possible that the blood transfusion may have given her the AIDS.
“The U.S. blood supply is among the safest in the world. Nearly all people infected with HIV through blood transfusions received those transfusions before 1985, the year HIV testing began for all donated blood.
The Public Health Service has recommended an approach to blood safety in the United States that includes stringent donor selection practices and the use of screening tests. U.S. blood donations have been screened for antibodies to HIV-1 since March 1985 and HIV-2 since June 1992. Blood and blood products that test positive for HIV are safely discarded and are not used for transfusions.”
That was from about.com
But, yea, anyways, it IS possible.
Pasha says:
July 15th, 2009 at 10:10 am
It is possible to acquire HIV/AIDS from a blood transfusion.
pasha39571 says:
July 16th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
AIDS or rather HIV is passed on by bodily fluids. It is possible therefore that she could have contracted HIV by means of blood transfusion. But in this day and age, however, unlikely but not impossible.
In the UK, we are always screened routinely and are asked each time we donate. We give blood voluntarily and do not accept payment. However, I believe some are paid in the USA and this potentially could lead to someone donating who had HIV, whether they knew they had it or not.
If she was in the unfortunate situation of having a nurse or doctor who had HIV injure themselves whilst they handled the transfusion injection set or during an operation, again, this could be a source.
She needs investigations as to how this could happen undertaken.
MannyMcMannerson says:
July 19th, 2009 at 4:57 am
this could happen, but it’s VERY rare. The blood is always checked and the needles sterilised, if she did get this from the hospital then someone wasn’t doing their job properly.
She should stay optimistic about it, though, and try not to think negatively of the doctors. Too many people seem to hate doctors… if it wasn’t for the blood transfusion she might not be alive to contract AIDS in the first place. Doctors aren’t perfect, but they’re still amazing, and so under appreciated.
Basically, it is possible she got it from the hospital, but this would have been due to a very small mistake made by someone who works there, with very large conscequences.