Latvian blood bank chief suspended after 25 donors test positive for hep C

The head of the Latvian State Blood Donor Center was suspended Friday and faced a disciplinary probe after a revelation that the blood bank had been unknowingly accepting blood from donors infected with hepatitis C, the center's spokeswoman Zane Mousavi said.

Latvian health minister Anda Caksa suspended the center's director Iveta Ozolina and ordered the probe over possibly unsatisfactory job performance.

Latvian media reported this week that the center had sent out 195 letters to hospitals warning them that hepatitis C-infected blood might have been transfused to some of their patients.

The blood bank blamed the situation on its outdated testing equipment which had failed to detect slightly positive results. After receiving a new testing system earlier this year, the blood donor center discovered there were 25 carriers of the hepatitis C virus among its regular blood donors, Ozolina said at a news conference Thursday.

The hospitals that have received the letters from the center have been checking the patients that had received blood transfusions. So far, none have tested positive for the infection. Endit