historical blood screening

[cruelworld]

does anyone know the chronological advancement of
blood screening at blood banks since the 50's?
it seems like that syphilis might have been the only thing they screened for back then. what years did the various hep and aids tests become standard?

[rosebud57]

in the 70s they knew about hep A and hep B and a non-A non-B, but these were only screened for if you had active sx of hepatitus - as i did in the early 70s but young as i was i didn't understand implications of it, was only told that i would never be able to donate blood, which i didn't. wheni discovered i had hep c last summer. i read that they did not identify it until 1989, that changed what was previously referred to as non-a/b.  i don't believe they have a routine screening for this.  i was surprised that they tested me for HIV (w/o consent) at the same time they tested me for hep c (i was already identified w/hep c by an arthritis study i had tried to join), but was relieved to know that i was clear of that.

they should have hep c and HIV be routinely screened for.  I know over here the county has outreach programs to try to get those who use IV drugs to come in and test, recieve safety training, safe sex training, etc. to try to prevent further outbreaks of HIV.  seems like they should try to do more i don't recall if they even address hep c in this program

that is a good question though, why don't they routinely screen the population for these blood borne.  at least after a time when most people are more vulnerable, sometime or several times as adult.

[zazza]

I did IV drugs in the early 80's. At this time you would get $7 from the blood bank in my country in Scandinavia every time you gave them your blood. So I knew quite a few IV:ers who got money this way when they were broke. Their blood was obviously not screened for HIV or HCV since these diseases were unheard of at that time. I can only imagine how many people got hep C from blood transfusions because of this. Today you get a t-shirt for your effort, no money, the blood bank has learned.

[cruelworld]

my point with this question is this. in 1978 when i did iv drugs, i didnt know of this danger, neither aids nor hep or any other difficult to treat blood diseases. my specific question is, at this time, did anyone in the world know of these risks? what diseases were being tested for when you gave blood at a blood bank in the late 70's. sounds like they didnt screen for much, since today they mostly only look for aids hep b hep c and syphylis.  back then syphilis was the only one they really understood. is this correct or am i totally wrong?

[nygirl7]

As far as I know they still ARENT standard tests...I had to beg to get mine and I even have an exhusband who's had hepc for over 25 years.

They SHOULD be but the govt. will never let that happen or the insurance companies will go out of business they will be so swamped with people with HepC.

They are just NOW admitting it's a bigger epidemic than HIV.