I refer to the report headlined, 'Anti-Aids drug played part in death of liver-scheme volunteer' (South China Morning Post, January 29).
Your report stated that She Yun-ki 'contracted hepatitis B in 1990 after a blood donation'.
The fact is that Mr She was identified by the routine donor screening to be a hepatitis B carrier at the time of his blood donation and, in consequence, his donation was discarded and Mr She was deferred from further blood donations.
The wording of your report could be taken, albeit erroneously, to imply that Mr She contracted hepatitis B as a consequence of donating blood.
This is simply not possible, bearing in mind that donors only come into contact with sterile apparatus during the short donation process.
Hepatitis B is normally transmitted by the maternal-foetal means (mother to unborn child) or parenteral means (passage of infected bodily fluids, generally through sexual activity).
