Mother ‘given tainted blood after the NHS began checks’
A MOTHER told the tainted blood inquiry yesterday that she was infected with hepatitis C during a transfusion – after the start of screening for the virus.
The revelation from Carolyn Challis, 63, will fuel fears that more patients were put at risk.
It had been thought that the scandal – which saw 7,500 people infected with HIV and hepatitis C – was effectively limited to the 1970s and 1980s.
Speaking on the second day of the inquiry, Miss Challis said she was diagnosed with hepatitis C after receiving contaminated blood at some point between 1992 and 1993.
The mother of three said she felt everyone in the UK should be tested to find the ‘missing thousands’ who may not know they had been infected.
In her touching testimony, which was met with a standing ovation, she said: ‘I want more awareness of the [screening] cut-off date of September 1991 because it’s still going on. It’s still slipping through.’
After hearing her evidence, Rachel Halford, head of the Hepatitis C Trust, confirmed that Miss Challis’s case was not an isolated one. ‘We are getting more and more calls from people infected post the 1991 cutoff date and going up to as late as 1993,’ she said.
‘Carolyn is not alone. She is not the only example. We are hearing more examples like her and they are increasing. We need to explore this period after the cut-off date.’
The inquiry opened this week after the Daily Mail campaigned for more than 30 years for justice for the victims who were treated with contaminated blood imported from the US in the 70s and 80s.
The products were not tested and were infected with HIV and hepatitis because the blood had been donated by high-risk groups – including prisoners and the homeless – in exchange for cash.
The NHS eventually introduced UK-wide screening of blood in September 1991 – but 2,500 recipients have died. Miss Challis said she received infected blood during one of three transfusions she had between 1992 and 1993 while pregnant and having treatment for cancer. In 1991, the Government starting paying off those who had been infected and began a screening programme to stop further contamination.
The inquiry heard Miss Challis may have received blood that had been frozen and stored, or that infected donors had given blood before tell-tale anti-bodies showed up in tests. Miss Halford said patients can test positive for hepatitis C anywhere between three to six months after contracting it – so it is possible that infected donors gave blood without being detected.
Miss Challis, a former counsellor from Devon, said she was eventually cured after taking part in a clinical trial in 2016.
The grandmother said the illness had a massive impact on her life which was blighted by chronic fatigue. She told the hearing in central London that she felt the entire population should be given a £12 finger-prick test so that victims could be identified, treated and the virus eliminated. Miss Challis added: ‘That’s my big, big mission, to get more information and awareness and get people tested.
‘It costs £12, it could be provided to every single patient. I want every single person in the UK tested and treated.
‘If every person is tested we will find the missing thousands and we can eliminate hepatitis C. They can do it – it’s cheap.’
She told the inquiry that her children had to go in and out of foster care because of her cancer and hepatitis C and the fact she was a single mother.
And she said her applications for financial support were constantly rejected by the Skipton Fund – a scheme set up in 2004 for victims. She was told that she missed out on payments because she was infected after the cut-off point.
The inquiry saw various references from consultants supporting her claim that blood transfusions were the cause of her infection.
One doctor wrote: ‘This lady received a number of blood transfusions between from 1992 to 1993. No other risk factors are present and the hospital treatment and transfusions are thought to be the cause.’
Miss Challis continued to appeal but was told the blood used by her had not been infected. However, she launched her own investigation and discovered that the batch numbers of the blood she was given did not match those of the batches eventually tested.
After the inquiry chaired by Sir Brain Langstaff hears from victims in central London, there will be further sessions in Belfast, Leeds, Edinburgh and Cardiff.
‘Find the missing thousands’ ‘£12 blood test for everyone’