Woman given HIV-infected blood, to undergo fresh test

Health officials in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district are conducting fresh tests on a woman and her baby following allegations that the woman was given HIV-infected blood during delivery.

Health officials in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district are conducting fresh tests on a woman and her baby following allegations that the woman was given HIV-infected blood during delivery.

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The blood samples were collected by the doctors of an anti-retroviral therapy centre at the government-run Nellore district headquarters hospital and sent to Chennai. The results of the report were expected in a couple of days.

The tests were conducted again following directions by a team of officials which is probing the incident in which the woman was believed to have been administered HIV-infected blood while she was undergoing caesarian section at a private hospital last month.

Twenty-year-old Haseena, who had tested negative for HIV during the pre-delivery tests, tested positive for the deadly virus later, to the utter shock of her family.

The shocked relatives of the woman Monday attacked a blood bank of Indian Red Cross Society in Nellore town for supplying infected blood.

The woman was administered three units of blood at the hospital during the surgery on Nov 2.

Her relatives alleged that during the last one-and-half months she was continuously running fever. She was rushed to the same hospital, where was she was tested positive for HIV.

The hospital told the family that the blood brought from the blood bank must have been contaminated with HIV. The officials at IRCS blood bank, however, claimed that all precautions were taken and the blood was tested before collecting it from donors.

Haseena's husband Nisar, a daily wage earner, said they were shattered to know that she was infected with HIV. "We don't know what to do now. Those who are responsible for this should be sent to jail," he said.

The district collector has ordered a probe into the incident.