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Slow government action worsens the tragedy.
The tale is tragic and depressing: It is the story of
people who contracted a life-threatening illness through
medical treatment.
A group of people infected with hepatitis C virus
from treatment with virus-tainted blood
products-typically during childbirth or through
transfusions during surgery-have filed damage suits in
Tokyo and Osaka district courts against the central
government and three pharmaceuticals companies that
distributed the blood products. The plaintiffs, who seek
900 million yen, say their afflictions are the fault of
the drug makers, which produced and distributed blood
products, knowing they presented a risk of hepatitis
infection, and of the government, which certified the
products.
Hepatitis C, a primary cause of chronic liver
diseases, often does not emerge with symptoms until many
years after infection. Many chronically ill patients are
unaware they are hepatitis C carriers for 10 or even 20
years, and may not know they are infected until they
have developed such other fatal liver conditions as
cirrhosis or liver cancer. That is why this form of
viral hepatitis is sometimes referred to as a ``silent
infection.''
The hepatitis C pathogen was slow to be identified,
and the resulting liver inflammation was once referred
to medically as non-A, non-B hepatitis. It was not until
1988 that the hepatitis C virus was defined. Reliable
blood-testing techniques for hepatitis C to ensure
safety of blood products and transfusions took even
longer to develop.
Much of the hepatitis C infection that has resulted
from medical treatment came from fibrinogen, used for
more than 20 years as a coagulant at the nation's
hospitals. The fibrinogen was made by the now-defunct
Green Cross Corp., which was also a defendant in the
infamous cases involving HIV infections spread through
tainted blood products. The products were used in a
variety of procedures by obstetricians, surgeons, and
other medical specialists. Mitsubishi Pharma Corp.,
which took over Green Cross, has estimated that more
than 10,000 people got infected with hepatitis C via
fibrinogen products since 1980 alone.
In an August report on an internal investigation, the
central government absolved itself of blame for the
public health care disaster. Indeed, the government
ordered the recall of all unheated blood products
immediately after widespread infection-presumably via
blood products-was reported in 1987. Although
heat-treated blood approved by the government as
substitutes also caused infections, the government's
response was a little different from its response to the
HIV infection outbreak, which also involved tainted
blood.
But the former Health and Welfare Ministry apparently
did not try hard enough to deal with the situation, even
though it was easy to assume after the discovery of mass
infection that many people had contracted the virus
through transfusions or other treatment with the blood
products.
The plaintiffs say the government is legally
responsible for their illness because it approved the
blood products for use. This claim should be carefully
examined in court.
Two years ago, the former health ministry finally
established a project team to seriously address the
hepatitis C issue. Since the start of the current fiscal
year in April, the ministry has implemented emergency
measures that include virus testing as part of the
routine in municipal medical checkups. That came too
late.
Hepatitis C, if untreated, becomes progressively
virulent, eventually becoming serious in eight to 10
years. As it grows in severity, the risk of liver cancer
also increases.
Some effective treatments of the disease, however,
have emerged in recent years. Immunotherapy using
interferon works well, especially when new anti-virus
drugs are administered at the same time. A number of
hepatitis C patients must have lost opportunities for
effective treatment because of the slow government
response.
No matter how the trials conclude, policy initiatives
must be undertaken quickly to ensure blood tests and
expedited effective treatment for all those potentially
at risk of hepatitis C. The government should take steps
like providing subsidies to periodical medical checkups
organized by companies for their employees and
increasing funding for research on new treatments.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 22(IHT/Asahi: October
23,2002)
(10/23)
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