Transfusions infected some Pakistani children with HIV-Report

According to Pakistan’s health ministry, it was investigating a report that 10 children had been infected with H.I.V. after receiving blood transfusions.

The children have thalassemia, a disease of the blood that requires regular transfusions, and reports of the H.I.V. infections were viewed as fresh evidence of Pakistan’s crumbling national health system.

The infections were first reported by Dr. Joveria Mannan, a senior official of the Thalassemia Federation of Pakistan, at a medical conference on Nov. 29. She said the infected children had come from the capital, Islamabad, and from parts of Punjab Province.

Sara Afzal Tarrar, the federal health minister, told local news media on Friday that government officials were investigating Dr. Mannan’s claims, and would report back next week.

An estimated 50,000 Pakistanis suffer from thalassemia, which requires blood transfusions at least once a month. But the unregulated national blood transfusion system is widely seen as being inadequate.

Blood banks exist only in major cities and there is no regulated system of collecting blood donations in smaller cities and towns. Further, the country’s blood-screening system is poor, leading to several warnings about the danger of infection with H.I.V.

Health officials say the number of H.I.V. infections in Pakistan is near 100,000, and cases have been on the rise.

Dr. Yasmin Rashid, the secretary general of the thalassemia federation, said the organization was seeking to establish learn more about the infections from Dr. Mannan.

“If the children carry infected blood, they must have received multiple blood transfusions,” Dr. Rashid said.

Dr. Sarfraz Jafri, director of the Husaini blood bank in Karachi, said the problem had been exacerbated by the low level of blood donations in Pakistan. Only about 5% of Pakistanis voluntarily donate their blood, he said. (Source: The New York Times)

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