Infected donor spread dengue

Infected donor spread dengue
Thu, Oct 02, 2008
The Straits Times

THREE people contracted the potentially lethal dengue virus from a blood donor in Singapore last year, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine that exposes a vulnerability in the city's blood supply, Bloomberg news reported on Thursday.

Two men, aged 64 and 72, suffered fever, muscle pain and fluid build-up in their chests after receiving blood donated by a 52-year-old man, scientists led by Dr Paul Tambyah at the National University of Singapore said in the report. A third man, 74, was infected without suffering any symptoms. All three were discharged from hospital in good health, the report said.

Singapore doesn't screen blood donors for dengue because available tests would take four weeks, rendering blood platelets that must be used within five days useless, Mr Tan Hwee Huang, deputy division director of blood supply at the Health Sciences Authority, told Bloomberg in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

The Straits Times SG

The donation was made to NUH in July last year. The donor informed the blood bank when he developed fever the day after, which prompted a check on the three recipients of his blood products.

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No wonder he still could donate la..