By Country / Russia
Moscow Fears HIV-Tainted Blood Has Reached Capital
December 08, 2005
8 December 2005 -- The chief health inspector in Moscow says it is possible city blood supplies may already include HIV-infected plasma from the central city of Voronezh.
Nikolai Filatov told the Interfax news agency that it was "theoretically possible" that the infected plasma was already at medical centers in Moscow. He said researchers are attempting to determine whether the HIV-infected samples may have reached the capital.
Prosecutors in Voronezh on 7 December opened a criminal investigation into how at least one patient accidentally received blood tainted with the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
Voronezh health authorities say as many as 208 patients received transfusions of blood proteins taken from a female donor who was HIV-positive.
(Interfax/newsru.com/AP)