Blood donor who tested positive in 1994 was screened from 1991

WOMAN who believes she was infected by contaminated anti-D in 1977 says she gave blood donations until late 1993, even though the Blood Transfusion Service Board had screened her donations for the hepatitis C virus from 1991.

She was given the blood product anti-D in 1977 on the birth of her fourth child.

The woman tested positive for hepatitis C antibodies in February 1994 when the BTSB introduced an improved "third generation" test.

The batch number of the anti-D she received has been matched with plasma taken from "Donor X."

This donor was named in the report of the expert group chaired by Dr Miriam Hederman-O'Brien as the most probable source of hepatitis C infection.

The woman also says the BTSB telephoned her in May or June 1994 - three to four months after she tested positive - inviting her to give a blood donation.

The BTSB said yesterday it could not comment on individual cases to confirm or deny the phone call.

The woman was on a rare blood donor panel and gave blood for 10 years between 1983 and 1993, making 21 blood donations in that time.

In October 1991 the BTSB introduced a screening test called ELISA for routine screening of blood donations for hepatitis C.

However, ft was not until file woman was tested under the National Screening Programme in 1994 that her blood tested positive for antibodies.

In a statement to The Irish Times yesterday the BTSB said the 1991 screening test was "the most sophisticated test available at the time".

It said six donors who had negative test results from this "second generation" test proved positive on the "third generation" test introduced in February 1994.

"These are termed `seroconversion donors', i.e., people whose antibody status changes from one test to the next."

The BTSB said all previous donations from this group were looked at and the recipients off their blood were screened. None of these recipients had tested positive for hepatitis C.

The BTSB said seroconversion was an important way to assess blood screening procedures. "The incidence of seroconversion at the BTSB in the general donor population is of the order of one per 150,000 - a very low number by international standards."