Subject: Letters to the Editor:  Hepatitis A Strain Isn't Put to the Test
Date: Published: 5/22/89 (48 lines)
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Letters to the Editor:  
    Hepatitis A Strain
    Isn't Put to the Test

    As medical director of a blood bank, I quickly learned
 that Wall Street Journal reading is required to stay one step
 ahead of the game.  Scientific journals that contain the
 information needed to operate a safe blood bank arrive at my
 office one to two weeks after the information is published in
 your paper.  More important, I cannot recall an instance in
 which inaccurate medical information was printed.
    Your enviable record suffered a minor setback April 21 in
 "Mysterious Strain of Hepatitis Is Identified."  This article
 states that "donated blood is now routinely screened for
 hepatitis A and B, among other infectious agents."  Actually,
 bloodbank laboratories do not screen donated blood for
 hepatitis A. 
    Since hepatitis A is principally transmitted orally, and
 not through blood transfusion, hepatitis A testing is not
 recommended by either the Food and Drug Administration or the
 American Association of Blood Banks.
    Currently, all blood establishments registered with the
 FDA and accredited by the AABB perform the following blood
 tests:  (1) Antibody to the AIDS virus; (2) Antibody to the
 human T-Cell leukemia virus; (3) Test for syphilis; (4)
 Hepatitis B surface antigen (to detect donors with hepatitis
 B); (5) Hepatitis B core antibody, and (6) ALT. 
    The last two tests on the list have been instituted as a
 temporary measure to help eliminate units of blood capable of
 transmitting hepatitis C-the mysterious strain.
 Unfortunately, these substitute, or surrogate, tests for
 hepatitis C may miss about half of the potentially infectious
 units.  Consequently, the test described in your story appears
 to be a major step forward in improving the safety of the
 blood supply.
    Jerry Kolins M. D. 
    Medical Director
    Community Blood Bank of North County
    Escondido, Calif.

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