Nov. 3, 2009 (The Yomiuri Shimbun) -- An increasing number of major hospitals are switching away from domestically produced blood products to those from overseas, giving rise to fears over the safety and reliability of medical treatments that involve blood preparations.
The switch to products made using blood collected in foreign countries has come about because domestically donated blood is much more expensive than that from abroad.
The move to using blood products produced overseas runs counter to what has been standard practice in this nation and risks a repeat of past tragedies caused by products containing tainted blood sold by individuals overseas.
The government should take urgent steps to ensure problems linked to contaminated blood products are never repeated. ===
Tainted blood fears
Blood products are broadly divided into two categories: those to be used for blood transfusions and products produced with blood plasma components for other uses.
Blood consists of various components, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma, which perform different functions.
Certain components are used in some operations and during transfusions to prevent side effects.
Blood plasma is the liquid component of blood, in which the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, all consisting of proteins, are suspended.
A number of plasma protein components--such as albumin, immune globulin and blood-clotting factors--are separated for the treatment of patients requiring one or more of these components.
In the past, a large number of patients given contaminated blood products were infected with serious diseases, including AIDS in the late 1970s to early '80s, which caused the deaths of more than 600 people, and the infection of more than 10,000 people as a result of blood products used during roughly the same period with the hepatitis C virus.
HIV infection linked to blood products was found to have been caused by the use of plasma protein products produced using contaminated blood exported from the United States and other countries. ===
Blood imports surging
A key type of blood product, containing albumin, is used for the treatment of burns and shock, and has been marketed in Japan by four Japanese companies, including the Japanese Red Cross Society, and two foreign-based firms.
Up until a few years ago, about 40 percent of albumin-based products used across the country were reportedly produced using blood sold by individuals overseas. The figure has been further increasing in the past couple of years, according to experts.
Tokyo's Mitsui Memorial Hospital in Chiyoda Ward, a key treatment center, stopped using domestically produced albumin products at the beginning of October, switching entirely to foreign-made ones.
