Journal of Blood Disorders & Transfusion

Lesson from outbreaks of HIV-1, HCV and HAV among Korean hemophiliacs in 1990s

5^th World Hematologists Congress

August 18-19, 2016 London, UK

Young Keol Cho

University of Ulsan, South Korea

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Blood Disord Transfus

Abstract:

There were outbreaks of HIV-1, HCV and HAV transmission among Korean hemophiliacs B from late 1989 and 1998, respectively. In 1994, first investigation committee for HIV-1 transmission (IC) reported that the clotting factor is presumed as cause, based on that several lots of domestic clotting factor (DCF) were significantly associated (P<0.05). The whole story on this issue through me who interviewed all HIV-1 infected persons at division of AIDS, Korean NIH in 1990-1993 was introduced in a potent daily newspaper in Korea in September 2002. Thus, 2nd IC was established by health authority and I was sued by manufacturer of DCF. Luckily, we had stocked almost all sera obtained from all HIV-1 infected individuals diagnosed in 1990-1993. Thus, we could contribute to clarify the genetic relationships among HIV-1 viruses found in four cash-paid plasma donors whose pre-seroconversion plasma was used to produce DCF, 20 hemophiliacs infected with Korean subclade B (KSB) and local controls although I felt the pain with the relevant litigations. Phylogenetic and signature pattern analyses on pol and vif sequences by RT-PCR confirmed that 20 hemophiliacs were infected with KSB through infusion of DCF. The Supreme Court of Korea ruled that a domestic company was responsible for the infection with HIV-1 of hemophiliacs B in 2011. Twenty hemophiliacs had been treated with Korean red ginseng (KRG). Among the 20 hemophiliacs, 16 are alive with ginseng based combination therapy since 1998. The lesson on these viruses transmission that should not happen is worth to share.

Biography :

Email: ykcho2@amc.seoul.kr