Blood products given all clear

THE CHIEF medical officer last night gave imported blood products at the centre of a German Aids scare the all-clear, writes Celia Hall.

Dr Kenneth Calman said that eight batches of products made from German plasma by an Austrian company, Immuno, which have been recalled from UK hospitals, had been tested and found free of HIV contamination.

The Medicines Control Agency had issued an alert over five batches of human immunoglobulin and three batches of albumin as a precaution. The Department of Health emphasised that as the imported blood products were heat-treated they were free of contamination.

A full-scale scandal has developed in Germany after it was announced that blood supplied to hospitals over 10 years by a Koblenz company might have been contaminated by HIV.

Aids hysteria, page 11