NEW YORK, Jul 26 (Reuters Health) -- A Petersburg, Virginia man, who tested positive for HIV after he received a blood transfusion during bypass surgery at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals in March, may be the first person in Virginia to contract the disease through a blood transfusion since 1986.
Barbara Lea-Kruger, spokeswoman at the Division of AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases at the Virginia Department of Health in Richmond told Reuters Health in an interview that the investigation is still underway. The Virginia Department of Health, which has used a name-based HIV tracking system for the past 10 years, is following the case, but is not involved in the investigation.
Thus far, the man's HIV infection has been confirmed, but the mode of transmission has not, Lea-Kruger explained. However, the patient has no other known risk factors for HIV, she continued.
The case is being investigated by the Richmond-based Virginia Blood Services, the US Food and Drug Administration, and MCV Hospitals. The Virginia Blood Services was notified about 2 months ago that a donor had recently tested positive for HIV infection.
The company then informed MCV Hospitals that they may have received an HIV-contaminated batch of blood, and the Hospital notified William Young, a patient who was at risk. Young subsequently tested positive for HIV infection.
Cari Brunelle, a spokeswoman for MCV Hospitals, told Reuters Health that Young, who has granted exclusive interviews to channel 12, an NBC affiliate in Virginia, instructed the hospital not to release any information on his case.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded a total of 39 transfusion-related cases of HIV infection nationwide since the HIV screening test became available in 1985, Lea-Kruger told Reuters Health. In Virginia, there was one case of transfusion-related HIV infection in 1986, she continued, and that case involved the transfusion of blood that had tested negative for HIV.
