Russian health authorites reported last week that hundreds of patients were given HIV tainted blood. This announcement sent thousands into a tailspin.

The blood has been traced to a 35-year-old female donor. The initial report said at least 208 people were treated with the blood, but Mikhail Ivanov, the deputy chief of the regional administration's health department, denied the original estimate. He said that seven patients received the tainted blood.

Yevgeny Zhiburt, the director of the Federal Blood Center, said the tainted blood was not used in its whole form, but was processed into the protein albumin. He said that process involves pasteurization, which destroys the virus. "Never anywhere on the planet have there been registered any cases of HIV infection through albumin transfusion," Zhiburt said.

There have been reports that a 21-year-old woman contracted the virus when she received a blood transfusion during childbirth. "It has not been shown that this infection truly came from donated blood," said Zhiburt. He added that only a molecular genetic analysis could show how she was infected.

The woman is suing the doctors who supervized her procedure.

There are currently 330,000 registered HIV cases in Russia. Unofficial estimates, though, find the number to be as high as 1.5 million.

Since 2001 Russia has had one of the fastest-growing infection rates in the world. One reason for the growth could be the government's tendency to avoid addressing sex-related issues.

© 2006 MyDNA.com