The Lindsay Tribunal has heard that the percentage of Irish haemophiliacs who contracted HIV from blood products was almost double that of their Dutch counterparts. The Tribunal was told today that over 15% of haemophiliacs in Holland were infected with HIV from blood products, whereas nearly 30% of Irish haemophiliacs contracted the virus.
Professor Pim Van Aken, a senior Dutch blood bank official, explained how they decided at the end of 1982 that blood products could be infectious and it would be "irresponsible" not to act. This was not the case in Ireland, according to the evidence of the Blood Transfusion Service's expert witness, Dr Emer Lawlor.
While HIV had yet to be identified and some argued it might not be blood-born, Professor Van Aken stated the Dutch explicitly warned haemophiliacs about the danger of blood products. Dutch haemophiliacs were advised by their treating doctors in January 1983 to use domestic products first and to limit their exposure to imported concentrates from the United States.
A clinical study that year, which suggested symptoms of HIV were most closely associated with those haemophiliacs who used imported concentrates, "reinforced" the view of their dangers. In 1984, it was identified that 170 of 1,100 Dutch haemophiliacs (15.4%) had contracted HIV. Half of them were believed to have been infected by US concentrates.
US concentrates continued to be used widely in Ireland in 1983 and haemophiliacs were advised to continue to do so. It emerged in 1985 that 104 of 350 Irish haemophiliacs (29.7%) contracted HIV. Most of them were contaminated by US blood products.
Professor Van Aken said that he believed most people were infected before 1983 and that the introduction of a leaflet asking high-risk groups to exclude themselves from donating helped significantly. The Blood Bank in Ireland introduced a similar leaflet around the same time. Professor Van Aken also told the Tribunal that imported concentrates had been allowed only a limited usage as far back as the late 1970s.
