Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press - Thursday, October 24, 1996.
John Leicester, Associated Press Writer
The blood product, an over-the-counter medicine used to boost resistance to disease, is produced by a military-run factory in central China and sold in clinics and pharmacies.
Tests in April on vials of Wolongsong brand blood albumin, a protein, discovered some contained AIDS antibodies, the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement Thursday to The Associated Press.
Although Hong Kong media have reported suspicions about the product's quality, Thursday's statement was the first official confirmation that the problem involved AIDS.
The Foreign Ministry said the Ministry of Public Health ordered the ban on the sale and use of Wolongsong and told health officials to destroy stocks.
The statement did not say when the ban was issued, or how many vials were on the market. The Public Health Ministry refused to comment on the case, which has not been reported by state-controlled media.
The official silence on Wolongsong comes as health officials are increasing warnings about the threat AIDS poses in the world's most populous nation.
Last week, Chinese Health Minister Chen Minzhang cited China's reliance on paid blood donations in a speech warning that time is running out in China's fight against AIDS.
The system of paid blood donations attracts the most desperate people -- drug addicts, prostitutes, migrants -- who often engage in behavior that places them at risk for AIDS.
"If we don't seize this last chance, we will be committing a mistake of historical proportions," Chen said.
As of Sept. 1, the Health Ministry says 4,305 people were infected with HIV, up from 3,341 in 1995. Experts, however, feel the official numbers are too low, and believe China could actually have as many as 100,000 cases.
An AIDS expert with a government-backed foundation, Professor Xu Hua, said there have been no reports from anywhere of people catching the disease through tainted blood albumin.
But Dr. Leong Che-hung, an AIDS campaigner and legislator in Hong Kong, said the risk from contaminated vials could be serious.
A health official in Guangdong, the southern Chinese province of 66 million people where the contaminated Wolongsong was discovered, said the medicine is made by a factory run by the Logistics Department of the Guangzhou Military Region.
The factory has disowned responsibility for the contaminated vials, saying they were counterfeit copies of its product, said a spokesman for Guangdong's Health Bureau, who gave only his surname, Hu.
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