24 being tested after war-zone transfusions

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24 being tested after war-zone transfusions
By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, January 11, 2008

RAF MILDENHALL, England — Eighteen British military members and six contractors are having their blood checked for infections and diseases after receiving emergency war-zone transfusions that might not have been properly screened by U.S. officials, British authorities said Thursday.

The transfusions were performed at U.S. military facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan at various times since 2001, according to the British Ministry of Defence.

While U.S. and U.K. policy is to use certified blood products in combat zones, donors are used in emergency situations or when there are supply shortages, according to an MOD release. Policy also dictates that these emergency samples be retrospectively tested to ensure they are clean.

“However, not all of the emergency collections had samples that made it back to the U.S. for retrospective testing,” according to a statement from Derek Twigg, the U.K. undersecretary of state for defence. “This is the key reason for offering testing to the recipients of these U.S. emergency blood collections.”

A couple of test results already have come back and are clean, according to Nick Manning, a MOD spokesman.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51540