Public health risks are "very low", authorities say

Chinese health officials say the public has a "very low risk" of HIV infection, while officials are investigating a Shanghai pharmaceutical company that allegedly sold more than 12,000 blood products potentially contaminated with traces of the virus. to the country's health system.

The news of the shock caused by the public health scandal in China took place after the Jiangxi disease control and prevention authority, a province in eastern China, reportedly detected Anti-HIV antibodies when testing a lot of intravenous immunoglobulin produced by the Chinese branch of Shanghai Meheco Xinxing Pharma Co., Ltd., also known as Shanghai Xinxing. The lot was authorized for public use by the Shanghai Food and Drug Inspection Institute in October, but it is not known how many products have been used on patients.

China's National Health Commission said Wednesday it had asked Shanghai Xinxing to suspend the sale of blood products concerned in the country, adding that a team of experts had been sent to conduct an on-site investigation at Shanghai. Preliminary tests showed that no Jiangxi patients who used the affected products had contracted HIV and no initial sign of the presence of the virus in the sera, according to the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). Sixth Tone's calls to Shanghai Xinxing remained unanswered on Thursday.

Intravenous immunoglobulin is a blood product prepared from human plasma and containing antibodies that can help relieve a number of conditions. Shanghai Xinxing products are frequently injected into people with acute inflammation, Kawasaki disease and post-chemotherapy infections, according to the company's website.

Antibodies are produced when pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses, are present in the blood. Since antibodies often take specific forms, doctors can use them to identify the pathogens that affect a patient. Although the presence of anti-HIV antibodies in Shanghai Xinxing products does not necessarily mean that the virus itself is present, this possibility can not be totally ruled out.

"The detection of HIV antibodies … could mean that [the products] have been contaminated by the blood of people infected with HIV, "said Wang Yuedan, deputy director of the immunology department of Peking University's Health Sciences Center, in an interview with Beijing News. "In theory, the risk of HIV transmission exists … but the chances are slim."

Shanghai Xinxing is the leading manufacturer of blood products in the country. Founded in 2000, it has a strong presence in east and central China and has achieved a turnover of nearly 98 million yuan ($ 14.5 million) in the first half of 2018 In the mid-2000s, Shanghai Xinxing donated 50 million yuan to the acquisition of two apheresis centers – where patients have plasma separated from the rest of their blood – in Jiangxi Province and Central Hunan, respectively. Jiangxi Health Committee spokesman said the exact source of the contaminated sera remained under investigation.

In January, the NMPA revised the health warnings on doses of human immunoglobulin to make it clear that, even though the samples are screened for pathogens before being approved, the serums nevertheless come from of human blood and, therefore, patients who use these treatments have a minor risk of infection. .

Publisher: Matthew Walsh.

(Header image: GIPhotoStock / VCG)