THE inquiry into the hepatitis C scandal is expected to investigate whether the woman identified as the source of infected plasma was herself infected by plasma supplied by the Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB).
The woman, referred to as Donor X in the 1995 report of the expert group, was admitted to hospital in 1976 for plasma exchange treatment. This involved transfusing and draining plasma, effectively flushing out her system in order to lower her antibody levels.
The plasma taken from the woman was used to manufacture the blood product anti D between September and November 1976. Donor X then became jaundiced. The BTSB continued using her plasma after she recovered in 1977. The expert group's report said that this plasma was "the most probable source" of hepatitis C infection for women who received anti D.
A spokesman for the BTSB said yesterday that he had no comment to make on the matter.
In March, during the Brigid McCole case, the High Court heard an allegation that Donor X's plasma had been used without her knowledge and without the knowledge of her doctor. This evidence appears not to have been given to the expert group. It would mean that the woman was not a voluntary donor.
The legal team of the late Mrs McCole also told the court that the woman was clinically diagnosed as suffering from infective hepatitis (non A, non B hepatitis) and had become jaundiced. There was no test for hepatitis C at the time.
In the Dail last Wednesday the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan said that Donor X's doctor did not speak to the expert group. But he added that, if the doctor was to give evidence to the tribunal of inquiry, "this evidence may be of great significance".
The woman's doctor, a consultant obstetrician who treated her in 1976, told The Irish Times that he had no comment to make on the case.
The batch numbers from the BTSB's anti D, given to women who subsequently tested positive for hepatitis C, have been matched with the plasma of Donor X. All recipients of the anti D manufactured from Donor X's plasma here found to be infected with a single genotype (type 1) of the hepatitis C virus.
It is believed that the woman did not have any symptoms of hepatitis before the plasma was flushed through her system. During treatment, she developed jaundice, indicating that she was infected with a blood borne disease.
There is no doubt that the plasma of Donor X was the source of the contaminated anti D which infected the women who received anti D in the 1970s. However, if the woman herself was infected, then another older source of infection appears to exist.