TOKYO, Dec 29 (AFP) - A patient was infected with HIV after testing procedures failed to spot a contaminated blood donation that was later used in a transfusion, the Japan Red Cross said Monday.
The Red Cross realised the blood was infected when a second donation from the same man, who is in his 20s, was found to be HIV-positive on November 16, said senior technical director Kenji Tadokoro.
Frozen samples of his earlier donation, made on May 19, were then re-tested and also found to be HIV-contaminated.
"The initial donation was taken during the window period (immediately after infection). We don't have technology to detect the virus under those circumstances," Tadokoro reported at an emergency meeting of health experts, held at the health ministry.
The screening test, the nucleic acid test (NAT), introduced by the Japan Red Cross in 1999, failed to detect HIV in the initial donation presumably because the donor gave the blood within the 11-day window period, Tadokoro said.
"The test is sophisticated and advanced. Still, contaminated blood can go through our system," he said.
"What we need is public awareness. We must discourage those who have engaged in risky behavior with regard to HIV infection from donating their blood," Tadokoro said.
The Japan Red Cross will raise its level of screening, testing 20 donations at once rather than the current 50, he said.
Tadokoro also blamed a tendency to use blood donation centers, rather than public health facilities, to test for HIV.
Of 100,000 blood donors in Japan, 1.4 people were found to be infected with HIV, roughly double the infection ratio among the general public, Tadokoro said.
"In Japan, we are seeing more and more people becoming infected with HIV, while many other foreign countries are seeing their infection rates fall," he said.
"On top of that, we are seeing people donating blood to test for HIV because blood donation centers are more welcoming than public health facilities.
"Many blood donors are giving their blood to help those who need it. But we must aggressively educate the public that you must be responsible when donating blood," he said.
It is the second case of donated HIV-contaminated blood slipping through the screening net.
In the first case in July last year, the tainted blood was recalled before being shipped for transfusion.
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