How tens of thousands of people were infected with contaminated blood

Tens of thousands of people were infected with contaminated blood between the 1970s and early 1990s.

The final report into the biggest scandal in NHS history is finally being published this afternoon.

Tens of thousands of people were infected with contaminated blood between the 1970s and early 1990s – and it’s thought a number of victims could still be unaware they were affected.

It’s been estimated that 3,000 people have died as a result of the infections after receiving contaminated blood in transfusions or other treatments, with one victim dying as a result of infected blood every four days.

This blood was infected with HIV and/or hepatitis, and victims include people who needed blood transfusions for accidents, in surgery or during childbirth, and patients with certain blood disorders.

Many of the victims had haemophilia, an inherited disorder where the blood does not clot properly.

Ahead of the report being released at 12.30pm this afternoon, Metro.co.uk explains how so many people ended up infected when they thought they were receiving treatment.

Why were NHS patients given infected blood?

Blood plasma, known as Factor VIII, was sold by pharmaceutical companies, mixed from tens of thousands of high-risk paid donors in the US, including prisoners and drug users.

In 1983, a Scottish Blood Transfusion Service meeting said: ‘Even if chimpanzee studies were satisfactorily completed, studies in high risk patients, e.g. haemophiliacs, should still be carried out. We might wish to consider this as an alternative to chimpanzee studies.’

It came after years of similar discussions by government-funded agencies like the Medical Research Council.

A letter from a February 1970 meeting of the council said Factor products ‘have been found to transmit this form of hepatitis to chimpanzees.’

The letter goes on to say that the virus could be seen in the livers of infected chimps but said they were ‘a clumsy experimental animal.’

The scandal has been dubbed the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS and campaigners have been calling for compensation for decades.

Children suffering conditions like haemophilia were given the ‘dangerous’ blood products under the guise of treatment, without consent, as medical experts compared them to ‘laboratory chimpanzees’.

The infected blood scandal in numbers

• Around 1,250 people with bleeding disorders such as haemophilia were infected with HIV through infected blood products.
• Some 80 to 100 people were infected with HIV as a result of a blood transfusion – which could have been given following an accident, during surgery, during childbirth or another medical procedure.
• Between 3,650 and 6,250 people with bleeding disorders were infected with hepatitis C – this includes 1,250 people who were co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C.
• Some 26,800 people were infected with hepatitis C as a result of having a blood transfusion – though statisticians said this number could vary anywhere between 21,300 and 38,800 people.
• Some 22,000 of these were deemed to be chronically infected as they survived more than six months after their transfusion.
• Among people who received hepatitis C as a result of a blood transfusion, 64% were women.
• Of the 26,800 hepatitis C infections which occurred as a result of a blood transfusion, 22,000 were among patients in England, 2,740 occurred in Scotland, 1,320 in Wales, and 730 patients were infected in Northern Ireland.
• Five people were infected with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. They all died.
• The figures do not include people who were ‘indirectly infected’ – such as a partner who caught HIV from a loved one who had been given contaminated blood or a blood product.
• Statisticians said that it is not possible to estimate the numbers of hepatitis B virus infections with ‘reasonable accuracy’.

When was the Infected Blood Inquiry announced?

Former Prime Minister Theresa May ordered the inquiry in July 2017 after years of campaigning by victims and their loved ones.

At the time, some 2,400 people had died as a result of the scandal, but the number is now estimated to have exceeded 3,000.

Mrs May said the scandal was an ‘appalling tragedy’ which should never have happened.

She said that thousands of patients expected ‘the world-class care our NHS is famous for, but they were failed’.

The inquiry examined a number of issues, including: what happened and why; the impact on those affected; the response of the government and others; consent; communication and information sharing; the treatment, care and support people received; whether or not there was a cover-up and who was responsible.

Led by Sir Brian Langstaff, the inquiry heard evidence between 2019 and 2023.

Will there be compensation for the infected blood scandal?

The government says it’s working to get an arms-length compensation body set up, having faced criticism in the past over the speed at which it responded to calls for action on compensation.

Interim compensation payments of £100,000 have been made to around 4,000 infected people or bereaved partners – and the funding pot to compensate people affected by the scandal could be upwards of £10billion.

Ministers recently announced that these interim payments would be extended to the ‘estates of the deceased’.

The government confirmed that those living with chronic infections and who are on existing support schemes will be prioritised for compensation payments.

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