Blood screened using modern DNA-based technology DOES NOT WORK! also HIV transmitted through biting

[Guest guest]

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" Ken " <shining

Thursday, February 28, 2002 5:16 AM

HIV transmitted through biting

 

 

>

> HIV transmitted through biting

> Only two such documented cases in U.S.

> http://www.msnbc.com/news/716618.asp?pne=msntv

>

> By Charlene Laino MSNBC

>

> SEATTLE, Feb. 27 - A young man infected with HIV

> inadvertently transmitted the deadly virus to his mother by

> biting her during a seizure, Brazilian researchers reported here

> Wednesday at the 9th Annual Retrovirus Conference. And a

> middle-aged man caught the AIDS virus during a transfusion -

> even though the blood had been screened using modern DNA-based

> technology designed to weed out infected donations, U.S. doctors

> said.

>

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> NEVERTHELESS, both biting and blood transfusions are

> extremely rare ways of transmitting HIV, according to the U.S.

> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Bites

> usually do not result in spread of the virus and when they do,

> blood is often present in the mouth, said Dr. Harold Jaffe, head

> of the division of HIV, STDs and TB at the agency. Blood was

> present in the mouth of the 31-year-old HIV-infected man who bit

> his 59-year-old mother so hard she needed sutures, according to

> Sandra Andrea of the Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

>

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>

> About one-and-a-half months later, the widow tested

> positive. Since she didn't use drugs and had not had sex in 10

> years, the doctors conducted genetic screens to determine if the

> DNA blueprint of her virus matched that of her son's. It did.

> Jaffe said the CDC has records of only two such documented cases

> in the United States, just one of which was similarly confirmed

> by DNA testing. In 1987, an HIV-infected IV drug user in Florida

> got into a fight with his healthy sister and bit her.

> " Apparently, he had blood in his mouth, so when the sister

> became infected, we assumed the reason was the bite, " Jaffe

> said. The girl had no other risk factors.

>

> In 1995, a second case occurred - again in Florida and again

> apparently due to blood, not saliva - when an elderly man was

> bitten by an HIV-positive prostitute with bleeding gums. " This

> time, DNA testing matched the viruses, confirming the route of

> transmission, " Jaffe said. The bottom line: HIV spread via

> biting happens on rare occasions, Jaffe said. And to date, there

> has never been such a case traced to saliva alone.

>

> HIV FROM DONOR BLOOD Also at the meeting, U.S. researchers

> reported on what is believed to be the first case of an American

> becoming infected with HIV from donated blood since blood banks

> implemented DNA screening in 1999. " While tragic, it's not that

> surprising, " Jaffe said, noting that even with the more rigorous

> testing, it has been known all along that there is a one in

> several million chance of catching HIV from a transfusion.

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>

> " It's just too bad he was that one, " he said. The man was

> infected during a transfusion he received when undergoing

> emergency heart bypass surgery in August 2000, according to Dr.

> Michael Busch, of the University of California, San Francisco.

> The error was only caught when a man who donated blood that

> August tested positive when he tried to again donate in

> December. Even with DNA testing, there is a seven to 10 day

> window between when a person is infected with HIV and when he

> tests positive, Jaffe said. " Obviously, the donor was infected

> right around the time he donated the blood in August, so the

> test didn't catch it. " Technically, there is no way to improve

> the test and close that window, he said. " So the only way we can

> do better would be through better donor screening " - that is, to

> ask even more specific questions about possible risk factors to

> potential donors to try to weed out who are infected.

> Nevertheless, the blood supply is safe, stressed Jaffe, adding

> that he would certainly accept a transfusion if he needed one.

> " But if you are having elective surgery - say a hip replacement

> six months from now - you could store your own blood, " he added.

> " That would be the safest thing to do. "

>

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