UP TO 40 blood donors who tested positive for hepatitis C in routine screenings in 1991 were not told they had the virus until two years later, the Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB) has confirmed.
Asked about the risk the time lapse posed to the donors and their families, a spokesman for the BTSB described it as "absolutely minimal".
In a statement to The Irish Times, the board said that blood was never used after it was diagnosed as hepatitis C positive. The board continued to accept donations from the group, all from the Munster area, but the blood was used only to study the virus.
One donor, a man who claims he was infected by a blood transfusion in 1980, says he gave blood until November 1993.
The BTSB said it could not comment on the man's case, but he would have been one of "a number" of donors who screened positive for hepatitis C antibodies when the test was introduced in October 1991. There were between 30 and 40 such cases.
"The donors would not have been informed immediately of their antibody status for three main reasons," the statement said.
The reasons given by the BTSB were that "the implications of hepatitis C were not fully understood at this stage they still are not and the BTSB wanted to learn more about the disease before informing victims."
Secondly, the board said it needed to carry out a number of tests on different donations to establish a trend".
The board also said it needed more tests to support the findings of the first tests and it was not until November 1993 that a liaison with the University Hospital in Edinburgh was established and PCR tests became available.
A spokesman for the group, Transfusion Positive, representing people infected with hepatitis C through transfusions, described the handling of the donors as "a terrible way to treat people".
Ms Jane O'Brien, chairwoman of Positive Action, which represents women infected through anti D, said women were warned not to share razors and to clean up blood spills with bleach during the first alert in 1994. "This was simple precautionary advice that people needed."
The first the man learned of his infection was a letter dated November 23rd, 1993 from the BTSB which started by thanking him for his "generous support of our service". It states that a new test to reduce the risk of transmission of viral hepatitis by blood transfusion" had found evidence that he may have been exposed to this virus in the past".
The letter requested a further blood test to confirm whether the man had the virus. "I will discuss all the available information in greater depth with you at that time," it says.
It ends with "renewed thanks for your support of the Blood Transfusion Service in the region." The man's case has been settled at the Government hepatitis C compensation tribunal.
The BTSB said over the weekend there were "difficulties inherent in transfusion medicine all around the world" and that present staff were "not responsible for the mistakes of the past".