CHOC Letter on AIDS Risk Urges Testing

Childrens Hospital of Orange County has begun notifying the parents of as many as 3,000 children who may have received AIDS-tainted blood between 1978 and 1985, urging them to consult their private doctors for possible testing, a hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday.

In letters that began going out last week from the hospital in Orange, parents are advised that their children may have been exposed to contaminated blood through transfusions done before March, 1985, when blood supplies began being regularly screened for AIDS antibodies.

The letter stresses that “the risk is very, very low . . . , but the recommendation is that they consult with their physician to determine if testing is necessary,” hospital spokeswoman Agnes Gibson said.

About 1,000 letters signed by Dr. David Lang, pediatrician and director of infectious diseases at the hospital, were mailed last week and another 200 were mailed Tuesday, Gibson said. The remainder of the letters is expected to be mailed within two weeks, she said.

Parents of 360 patients who had called the hospital in December about whether their children had received AIDS-tainted blood will not be receiving the letter, hospital officials have said.

The letter recommends three options for testing: A laboratory chosen by the patient’s personal physician; the free testing program run by the Orange County Department of Health at 1725 W. 17th St., Santa Ana, and the Childrens Hospital clinic on Fridays at a cost of $25. All test results are confidential, Gibson said.