Subject:       Tick tainted blood recalled....Articles One and Two


>WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Food and Drug Administration Thursday said blood
>products were being recalled in six states because the donors may have been
>exposed to a tick-borne disease which could be transmitted through blood
>transfusions. 
>
>The blood products were collected by United Blood Services (UBS), also known
>as Blood Systems Inc., at the Fort Chafee, Ark. military base. 
>
>Some of the donors became ill one to three days after donating blood, and may
>be suffering from one of a number of infectious diseases caused by ticks,
>including erlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and possible borrelial
>infection. 
>
>The blood products were collected during three separate blood drives on May
>29, June 11 and June 25. Some of the 700 blood components that may have
>already been distributed before the recall include red blood cells, platelets
>and recovered plasma. 
>
>The following states may have received the recalled blood products: Alabama,
>Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. 
>
>Hospitals should immediately remove these recalled products from inventory
>and return them to their local UBS blood center. Physicians and recipients of
>the recalled blood products should be notified and told to report any
>illnesses. 
>
>All the possible infections carried by ticks cause fever, as well as headache
>and muscle pain, and in some cases, a rash. The majority of infections are
>mild or completely without symptoms, but a small percentage can be serious
>and even fatal. 
>
>Antibiotics can be used effectively to treat the infections if treatment is
>started as soon as possible. 
>
>18:45 07-03-97

c The Associated Press  
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) - Hospitals in six states were warned Thursday not to use
>blood recently donated at Fort Chaffee, Ark., because some donors may have
>been infected with a tick-borne illness. 
>
>There is no proof that the illness is spread through blood, but the Food and
>Drug Administration recalled the blood as a precaution - and to alert doctors
>to consider tick-related illnesses if a blood recipient shows unusual
>symptoms. 
>
>About 700 units of blood and blood products were recalled from Alabama,
>Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. Hospitals should return
>unused blood to the distributor, United Blood Services, also known as Blood
>Systems Inc., the FDA said. 
>
>The FDA said doctors should tell blood recipients to report any illnesses.
>The tick-borne illness suspected - ehrlichiosis - typically is mild,
>sometimes even producing no symptoms, but it occasionally is serious enough
>to kill, so patients with symptoms need antibiotic treatment, the FDA said. 
>
>Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain and, in some cases, a rash. 
>
>The problem arose when a group of 700 military reservists returned home to
>Iowa from Fort Chaffee, and 15 came down with puzzling symptoms. Tick-related
>illnesses are rare in Iowa, so public health officials traced the exposure to
>Fort Chaffee, where ehrlichiosis is endemic. 
>
>The 15 - who included several reservists who gave blood within three days of
>becoming sick - have not yet been definitively diagnosed, said FDA blood
>chief Dr. Jay Epstein. 
>
>But the suspicion of ehrlichiosis or the related Rocky Mountain spotted fever
>prompted the FDA to recall the blood to be sure and to alert doctors to watch
>for tick-related symptoms in transfusion patients. 
>
>The FDA is working with Defense Department officials to check whether other
>military groups were made ill by ticks at Fort Chaffee. 
>
>The tick season runs from April to September. 
>
>AP-NY-07-03-97 1728EDT
>

Subject:       Tick tainted blood recalled....Article One


>WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Food and Drug Administration Thursday said blood
>products were being recalled in six states because the donors may have been
>exposed to a tick-borne disease which could be transmitted through blood
>transfusions. 
>
>The blood products were collected by United Blood Services (UBS), also known
>as Blood Systems Inc., at the Fort Chafee, Ark. military base. 
>
>Some of the donors became ill one to three days after donating blood, and may
>be suffering from one of a number of infectious diseases caused by ticks,
>including erlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and possible borrelial
>infection. 
>
>The blood products were collected during three separate blood drives on May
>29, June 11 and June 25. Some of the 700 blood components that may have
>already been distributed before the recall include red blood cells, platelets
>and recovered plasma. 
>
>The following states may have received the recalled blood products: Alabama,
>Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. 
>
>Hospitals should immediately remove these recalled products from inventory
>and return them to their local UBS blood center. Physicians and recipients of
>the recalled blood products should be notified and told to report any
>illnesses. 
>
>All the possible infections carried by ticks cause fever, as well as headache
>and muscle pain, and in some cases, a rash. The majority of infections are
>mild or completely without symptoms, but a small percentage can be serious
>and even fatal. 
>
>Antibiotics can be used effectively to treat the infections if treatment is
>started as soon as possible. 
>
>18:45 07-03-97
>
>
>
>
>