State Moves to Protect Public Blood Supply

In an effort to protect the public blood supply from contamination by AIDS, state health officials Friday issued emergency orders to prevent people from using blood banks to find out if they have the disease.

State Health Director Kenneth Kizer announced regulations placing a six-month moratorium on the release of test results, so that blood banks will not be flooded with possible acquired immune deficiency syndrome victims.

“We believe these regulations should effectively discourage individuals at risk for AIDS from using blood banks for their own personal health screening,” Kizer said.

The new test, which can detect antibodies associated AIDS, was recently approved by the federal government and was distributed to blood banks for the first time earlier this week.

Because the test has a relatively high error rate, health officials feared its arrival could actually lead to increased contamination of the blood supply if there was no prohibition on releasing test results.

“We have to balance the ethical concern of withholding results from an individual with protection of the state’s blood supply,” Kizer said at a hastily called press conference.

Kizer stressed that the test is not effective for diagnosing AIDS but can help determine if an individual has been exposed to the disease, which breaks down the body’s ability to fight infection.

The emergency regulations, which took effect immediately, were requested earlier in the week by Assemblyman Art Agnos (D-San Francisco). Agnos and Assembly Majority Leader Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) have introduced legislation that would write a similar ban into the law and would provide funds to establish clinics where individuals could receive the test.

Kizer said that within two to three months, test sites will be established by the state or individual counties for people who want to be tested for evidence of exposure to the disease.

AIDS is primarily transmitted through body fluids and predominantly affects homosexual men. Since it was first diagnosed in 1981, it has killed 880 people in California, including 17 who contracted the disease through blood transfusions.

Kizer also announced Friday a change in state rules to accelerate initial Medi-Cal payments to AIDS victims.