Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I have a note before me, which I will pass on to the Minister, setting out the most up-to-date medical information relevant to this case. The absence of serological markers for hepatitis C does not exclude the distinct probability that an individual was exposed to virus-contaminated anti-D immunoglobulin. There is very good evidence that some individuals, when exposed to the hepatitis C virus, have an acute resolving infection that can leave the previously infected person with none of the usual diagnostic metrics of the past infection, such as seropositivity. In regard to the patients we are discussing, the case of donor Y has been described as the clearest example of this progression within the context of the natural history of hepatitis C infection. The details are outlined in the report of the expert group on the Blood Transfusion Service Board of January 1995, pages 29 and 30. The report states that a large volume of plasma was collected from donor Y in 1989. This plasma was found in retrospective testing in 1994 to be positive for the hepatitis C virus, yet donor Y was independently tested by the then BTSB for evidence of hepatitis C viral infection and tested negative under the third-generation ELISA test.

These facts provide a means for the Minister to progress this matter. I do not doubt for one moment that it is his personal wish to do so. As such, I hope that what I have recounted today gives him the formula and wherewithal to proceed. To reiterate, we are speaking about a very small number of women who desperately need our help.

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