Subject: Red Cross Sees Need To Test for Virus In Donated Blood
Date: Published: 11/11/87 73 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Red Cross Sees Need
    To Test for Virus
    In Donated Blood
    ---
    Survey of Blood Banks Finds
    A Small Incidence in U. S. 
    Of Cancer-Causing Agent
    ---
    By Michael Waldholz
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    A top official of the American Red Cross said that a
 cancer-causing virus had been detected in a recent survey of
 U. S. blood banks and recommended routine testing of donated
 blood for the virus.
    The virus, HTLV-1, was present in the blood of 10 of
 40,000 randomly selected donors whose blood was tested in six
 U. S. cities in recent months.  It is the first evidence that
 the virus, previously found in parts of Japan, the Caribbean
 and the Middle East, may be spreading, albeit slowly and in
 small numbers, through the U. S. blood supply.
    There are reports that the HTLV-1 virus is spreading in
 New Orleans and several cities in New York and New Jersey.
 Moreover, studies of the virus, first identified about 10
 years ago, indicate that there are endemic areas in Japan,
 the Caribbean, and Africa.  Sources outside the Red Cross who
 are familiar with the survey said the incidence of the virus
 among blood donors, though small, was higher than the 0.01%
 to 0.015% of the general population in which the AIDS virus
 is detected.
    HTLV-1 is distantly related to HIV, the acquired immune
 deficiency syndrome virus.  It causes a rare cancer called
 human t-cell leukemia, as well as a nerve ailment involving
 loss of muscle control.  Researchers say the cancer may take
 20 years to develop, but the virus has been identified as the
 cause of the nerve problem in about two dozen intravenous
 drug users in this country.  Like HIV, the virus appears to be
 spread through sexual intercourse and contact with blood.
    Dr. Gerald Sandler, associate vice president of the Red
 Cross, said the rate of infection detected by his group's
 survey warranted a call for mass screening of donated blood
 similar to the current program that screens all donated blood
 for the presence of the HIV virus.
    "Several years, maybe decades, may pass before we'll have
 definite information on the number of persons who would
 develop disease from an HTLV-1 infection," Dr. Sandler said.
 "But if we take a course of wait and see, many HTLV-1 viruses
 will be spread about."
    Most of the 10 detected in the survey as carrying the
 virus were drug users or had sex with a drug user.  All are
 still healthy.
    The Red Cross survey results were released in Orlando,
 Fla., at the annual meeting of the American Association of
 Blood Banks.  The survey was undertaken following development
 of test kits by Cellular Products Co., a Buffalo, N. Y. -based
 biotechnology company and Biotech Research Laboratories Inc.,
 Rockville, Md., which licensed its product to Du Pont Co. of
 Wilmington, Del.  Abbott Laboratories Inc. of Chicago is also
 developing a test kit.
    Dr. Sandler said a wide-scale screening program for HTLV-1
 must await approval of the screening test by the U. S. Food
 and Drug Administration, and the development of an
 easy-to-use confirmatory test.

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