Thousands of Brits may have ‘silent killer’ hepatitis C after at least 30,000 were infected with unscreened blood during transfusions.
Around 2,000 people who received unscreened transfusions during the infected blood scandal between 1970 and 1991 may have no idea they have the disease which can lead to cancer.
The Infected Blood Inquiry has heard as many as 30,000 patients received tainted blood infected with either HIV or hepatitis because blood was not screened first.
Hepatitis C, which is known as the ‘silent killer’, shows few symptoms initially.
But for each year a person has the virus, their chances of dying from liver cirrhosis and related cancers increases.
Around 12,800 people in England have requested NHS home-testing kits in just over a week as the scandal is brought to light – compared to 2,300 in the entire month of April.
The UK was struggling to meet demands for blood-clotting treatments so imported supplies from the US, which included donations from drug users and prison inmates.
Blood donations only began being screened in 1991 – 18 months after the first virus was found in a laboratory.
What is Hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which, if left untreated, can cause liver cancer and liver failure.
It usually displays no symptoms until the virus causes enough damage to bring on liver disease.
Symptoms may include fatigue and difficulty concentrating and the virus is also linked to cardiovascular disease, mental health issues, kidney disease and musculoskeletal pain.
It is estimated 3,000 people have died due to receiving the tainted blood, and ministers have been accused of covering up the scandal.
Documents discovered by infected blood campaigners show how medical experts compared haemophiliac patients to laboratory chimpanzees.
For those with haemophilia, injections were given under the guise of treatment – and without consent.
Roger Newman, 56, from Kent, was infected with hepatitis A and B between the ages of eight and ten after receiving infected Factor VIII blood products under the disguise of treatment for haemophilia – without consent or any conversations with doctors.
Out of the severe haemophiliacs infected, Roger is one of only around 20% who is still alive, he told Metro.co.uk.
He said how he has carried the ‘fear and embarrassment’ with him since the playground as he was warned not to share any cups or cutlery with others.
‘I felt I was living with a sense of shame from such a young age.’
But his ‘world collapsed’ at 15, when his mum told both him and his brother, who also had severe haemophilia, were diagnosed with HIV.
But the blood plasma, known as Factor VIII, was sold by pharmaceutical companies, mixed from tens of thousands of paid donors in the US, including prisoners.
Kate Burt, chief executive of the Haemophilia Society, said that people in the haemophilia community hope the ‘truth will finally come out’ when the report is published.
She described the publication of the report as a ‘significant milestone’ for people with the blood disorder, but said that for many the scandal ‘will never end’.
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