34 Blood Donors Infected With Virus: Report

Among those who donated blood between December last year and January this year, 34 were found to have been infected with the human T-lymphotropic virus, a ruling party lawmaker said yesterday.

Quoting a Korean National Red Cross report, Shim Jae-cheol said the Red Cross conducted screening tests for antibodies to the human T-lymphotropic virus type I/II and found that 35 of 353,001 blood donors from Dec. 3 last year through Jan. 31 this year tested positive for the virus.

Donated blood is not subject to a screening test for the virus in Korea.

The virus is spread through sexual contact and blood donation and causes neurological disorders, adult leukemia and lymphoma.

“The stored blood taken from the 34 people was discarded, but some of their blood had been distributed to medical organizations,” Shim said. “The government must conduct the HTLV antibodies test for all donated blood.”

ditto@donga.com