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Hindi Research Article
A Lookback Investigation of United Kingdom Residents Who Received Unscreened Stem Cells
Flood JS1, Yung CF1,2, Roy K3, Salmon R4, Goldberg D3 and Balogun MA1*1Immunisation, Hepatitis and Blood Safety Department, National Infection Service, Public Health England, London, UK
2Communicable Disease Centre, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore
3NHS National Services Scotland, Health Protection Scotland, Glasgow, UK
4NPHS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, Temple of Peace & Health, UK
- *Corresponding Author:
- Dr M.A. Balogun
Immunisation, Hepatitis and Blood Safety Department
National Infection Service
Public Health England
61 Colindale Avenue
London NW9 8EQ, UK
Tel: 020 8327 7601
E-mail: koye.balogun@phe.gov.uk
Received date: Mar 21, 2016; Accepted date: Apr 26, 2016; Published date: Apr 28, 2016
Citation: Flood JS, Yung CF, Roy K, Salmon R, Goldberg D, et al. (2016) A Lookback Investigation of United Kingdom Residents Who Received Unscreened Stem Cells. J Community Med Health 6:417. doi:10.4172/2161-0711.1000417
Copyright: © 2016 Flood JS, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Research into stem cell therapy to treat many chronic conditions is ongoing, and has triggered a ‘stem cell tourism’ phenomenon whereby individuals travel to receive unproven therapies. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) (now Public Health England was informed in 2007 of an incident where United Kingdom (UK) residents had received unscreened stem cells in the Republic of Ireland. A patient-notification exercise (lookback) was launched to test recipients for blood-borne infections.
Methods: Patients were identified, located and contacted via their physicians. After obtaining patient consent, serum samples were obtained from patients and sent for testing at the HPA. Results were returned to patients and their physicians.
Results: Of 59 UK residents who received stem cells in the Republic of Ireland, 42 consented to testing. Of these 59 individuals, forty were confirmed to be negative for all infections; two patients required further testing to assess initially reactive/equivocal results, but declined, and twelve patients declined testing or were untraceable.
Conclusions: Stem cell tourism exposes vulnerable patients to unnecessary risks and demonstrates a clear misalignment of public/patient understanding and scientific findings. It is of major public health importance to question the source and donor screening of stem cells when unregulated ‘treatments’ are offered.
