News
Guardian Letter From Haemophilia Society
Friday 5 February 2010
Letter From Haemophilia Society Chief Executive in Today’s Guardian
We were delighted this morning to see the following letter from Chris James, Chief Executive of the Haemophilia Society:
Thank you for publishing letters (2 February) from those affected by the contaminated blood disaster supporting the stance taken by Ruth Rendell. In another letter, the writer takes issue with Rendell for fanning the flames of stigma for those who have HIV. We sympathise with the correspondent's position and in fact we have battled over many years to reduce the stigma of HIV and hepatitis C. But in the case of haemophilia patients, many received multiple infections including hepatitis C and HIV. At the time that they were infected, the treatments for HIV were not available and many died; many others still live with these infections and have experienced the devastating effects of hepatitis C, as well as HIV. In addition over 4,000 haemophilia patients are "at risk" of vCJD as a result of another contamination of the blood product supply.
Chris James
Chief executive, Haemophilia Society
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/05/hiv-hepatitis-c-contaminated-blood