By PAUL HARASIM / RJ
A number of veterans as
well as doctors now
believe that Vietnam
veterans...could have
contracted hepatitis C
through unsafe jet gun
vaccinations.
While it’s possible the government’s position on transmission of hepatitis C among boomers may have resulted in less testing, it’s critical today boomers forget any fears of stigma and get the easy blood test.
Non-A, non-B
hepatitis occurring in agammaglobulinaemic patients after intravenous
immunoglobulin.
Lever AM, Webster AD, Brown D, Thomas HC.
Acute non-A, non-B hepatitis developed in twelve patients with primary
hypogammaglobulinaemia during treatment with intravenous gammaglobulin
prepared by Cohn fractionation of pooled plasma. The illness was
clinically and histologically identical to the short-incubation non-A,
non-B, hepatitis observed in haemophilic patients receiving factor VIII
concentrates. Most of the patients were symptomless, but 10 months after
onset ten of the twelve still had abnormal liver function. The occurrence
of non-A, non-B hepatitis in agammaglobulinaemics indicates that humoral
mechanisms are not essential for production of hepatocyte necrosis in this
infection. This outbreak emphasises the need for a screening test to
identify the agent in blood products, and shows that Cohn fractionation of
plasma does not always inactivate the agent.
Furthermore, the finding that the virus can be transmitted in IgG
concentrates suggests either that the general population has a very low
level of antibodies to the putative virus or that such antibodies are not
virus-neutralising.
