Scare over infected Indian blood stocks:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Almost a third of blood supplies in Indian banks is suspected to be infected with HIV, hepatitis or malaria. The majority of the country's blood banks do not screen blood because of the lack of imported kits and non-functioning apparatus, reports Nature Medicine. However, a rapid HIV kit being developed at Delhi University (see Clinica No 675, p16) by Dr Vijay Chaudhary hopes to reduce the problem. The single-step kit, which is still to be marketed, provides results in less than 10 minutes using a single drop of blood. The Indian government has already spent $100,000 on Dr Chaudhary's work, with a further $150,000 to be made available for developing fusion proteins used in the test.