Irish Independent By Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent
Wednesday April 15 2009
More than 40 people who received contaminated blood products have died of liver disease while 15 have undergone transplants, according to a new report.
The report tracked the progress of over 1,700 people infected with Hepatitis C through tainted blood or blood products .
The virus is a major cause of illness and death worldwide.
The new report measured some of the human cost of contamination of blood supplies and products, which was due to negligence and lack of a proper test for the virus.
Disease
In all, 167 people known to have received contaminated blood have died, although the virus was not implicated in all cases. Where death certificates were available, death was directly caused by liver disease in 43 people who agreed to give their details to a database.
Information on 34 people who died shows more than half of these had high alcohol consumption which would accelerate liver failure.
The most common non-liver related causes of death were cancer, heart disease, kidney disease and HIV.
The report of the national Hepatitis C database examined the health of people who received Hepatitis C through blood transfusion or the blood products to treat haemophilia.
