People with HIV can donate blood, study

People infected with the Aids causing virus can donate safe blood, according to a study carried out at the Nyanza General Hospital in Kisumu and presented last week at the 3rd East African Health and Scientific Conference in Nairobi.

The study says using simple and inexpensive technology, blood infected with HIV can be cleaned of the virus and be safely used for transfusion, a move the study authors claim can greatly close the current blood deficit gap.

The researchers collected 50 blood samples from HIV positive individuals for the study which took place at the Regional Blood Transfusion Centre – Kisumu.

‘After several failed attempts using different HIV testing kits we finally managed to clean the blood of any HIV trace using ordinary saline solution,” said Samuel Okech Ogweno, the head of laboratory services at Nyanza General Hospital, who was also the lead researcher. In medicine saline means a sterile solution of table salt in water.

In the process, says Mr Ogweno, who is also the secretary general of the Association of Kenya Medical Laboratory Officers, they encountered several false positive, which he claimed could be as a result of the donors being positive for hepatitis B”

Accuracy

“We haven’t proven it yet, but it gives a strong indication that hepatitis B could be affecting some accuracy of HIV screening using the popular rapid test kits.

Though, there is need for more research to prove this,” said Ogweno. If adopted by policy makers, says the researchers, these findings will give hope to the HIV positive individuals because it will not only reduce stigma amongst them for being sidelined as blood donors, but also boost endemic blood shortage in the country.

Currently any blood donated anywhere in the country for transfusion is always screened for HIV to ensure that it is free of the virus before it is transfused. According to the current statistics, the demand for blood in Kenya is 200,000 units every year. But only 130,000 units are donated annually leaving a deficit of 70,000 units.

“Our study has so far attracted requests for further interrogation using more superior and accurate HIV testing kits such as what is called the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) kit,” said Ogweno

The new development cones barely a week after scientists in Britain become the first in the world to produce unlimited amounts of synthetic human blood from embryonic stem cells for emergency infection-free transfusions.