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Professor Bloom, Dr Forbes and Dr Rizza concluded in a letter to The British Medical Officer that three commercial test kits had been approved by the FDA and although there was a small risk of false positives it was felt to be unreasonable to delay testing until that possibility was eliminated.

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Dr Harris wrote to Professor Bloom in response to his letter detailing concerns that the screening of blood should be introduced as soon as possible. Dr Harris stated that he accepted HTLV-3 testing should be completed as soon as possible, but that the performance of testing kits were variable. He wrote that they should be properly tested before introduction into the BTS and that this approach was supported by members of the EAGA.

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In a draft submission, circulated in the Department of Health and Social Security, it was recommended selecting a test following evaluation by the Public Health Laboratory Service and field trials in the Blood Transfusion Service. "This may take 5 months to implement" and "It might leave us without a screening test for up to 2 further months", although it was hoped field trials could be brought forward.

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Dr Acheson's note to John Patten exposed a lack of confidence among scientists at the Public Health Laboratory Service that the suppliers would be able to produce testing kits that were "reliable on a large scale and which would continue to be reliable on the shelf". He went on: "It would be worse to be in the position of having to withdraw a test once introduced than to be in our present position of carefully evaluating the tests."

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The World Health Organization had concluded at a conference that countries should "Screen, where feasible, potential donors of blood and plasma for antibody to LAV/HTLV-III".

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By May 1985 both plasma centres and blood banks in the US were testing donations for the presence of HIV antibodies.

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A draft preliminary report to a Department of Health and Social Security ad hoc group on the evaluation of commercial anti-HTLV-3/LAV assays provided the raw data arising from the initial evaluation for further discussion.

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EAGA recognised that "there was a degree of urgency for the introduction of routine anti-HTLV III screening of blood donations which precluded the completion of the National Blood Transfusion Service evaluation of different test kits prior to arrangements being undertaken for the introduction of routine screening".

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The Department of Health and Social Security issued a press release titled "Date set for AIDS screening test", which stated that John Patten had announced that screening should be introduced by mid October, and the test kits under trial were the Organon and Wellcome tests.

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A letter in The Lancet titled "HTLV III Antibody Screening of Blood Bank Donors" noted that with any screening test the problem lay with false positives. It was elucidated that this would have a significant impact both on blood supplies and on blood donors, as seropositive blood would be discarded and donors would be notified of their results.

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The closing submission of NHS Blood and Transplant to the Infected Blood Inquiry noted that, given the general agreement that testing be introduced as soon as possible, it was unfortunate that the first stage of the review was not completed at an earlier stage.

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The New Scientist published an article titled "Ministers delayed launch of AIDS test". It reported Abbott Laboratories' accusation that the British government delayed approval until a British test was available.

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In a memo, Mr Harris wrote regarding Abbott's complaint that the UK could have had a test in place months ago: "we have dallied to allow the preferred UK manufacturer to catch up".

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The Committee to Study HIV Transmission Through Blood and Blood Products made the following recommendation to the Department of Health and Human Services in the United States: "Where uncertainties or countervailing public health concerns preclude completely eliminating potential risks, the FDA should encourage, and where necessary require, the blood industry to implement partial solutions that have little risk of causing harm."

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The Department of Health and Social Security proposed to set up an evaluation programme for investigating the performance of screening test systems for AIDS markers.

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Dr Cash confirmed to Dr Mitchell that "the WBTS should undertake, on behalf of the SNBTS, initial evaluation studies of commercial HTLV-III antibody kits, but current pressure from commercial organisations to meet their deadlines should be resisted and priority given to SNBTS interests."

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Dr Harris wrote to Dr Whitehead stating that although screening tests were being introduced in 1985/1986, it had become apparent at a regional general meeting of the Northern Region that screening had already been undertaken by the Public Health Laboratory Service and Dr Codd in Newcastle.

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Dr Acheson wrote to Dr Abrams and told his deputy that "unresolved technical challenges facing the UK test mean that it is unlikely to be first in the field", adding "We are likely to need to evaluate a number of other tests, largely from the United States, over the succeeding months".

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A technical evaluation of Abbott Laboratories' AIDS antibody test and one other was expected to be completed by July 1985. Mr Harris expressed to the minister the Health Services Division's view that "it would not be helpful to have no other choice than Abbott since their test requires special equipment" and that "it would be preferable to have a British test evaluated as a possible candidate".

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Further dates announced for witness hearings

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