An expert on hepatitis told the High Court yesterday that he expected a young man who claims he contracted hepatitis C at birth, after his mother had received contaminated blood products, would get cirrhosis of the liver between the ages of 30 and 60.
The Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB) and the Minister for Health are being sued for aggravated damages in the case.
The 24-year-old man's mother was infected with hepatitis C derived from plasma from Patient X in 1977, and he was infected from his birth in 1980.
Prof Graham Foster, professor of hepatology at Queen Mary's School of Medicine in London, said yesterday he believed that, at best, the young man would get cirrhosis at 60 or, at worst, 30 if the disease followed the same pattern as it had with his mother.
He said that the best landmark study carried out on the disease involved 2,000 patients, and showed that 20 to 30 per cent of those concerned would have cirrhosis after 30 years with the disease.
He said that when the man involved in this case reached the age of 40 the disease would be fulminating, and it was probable that he would follow the same course as his mother. "I think he is going to go bad very quickly," he said.
Earlier in the proceedings, Mr John Rogers SC, for the man, claimed that the National Drugs Advisory Board had been starved of funds for an inspectorate to check what was happening in the BTSB. The principal case against the Minister was over failure to resource the National Drugs Advisory Board.
The hearing continues.