Tainted blood.

Hepatitis C is a slow viral infection which may lie dormant in the body for as long as 30 years, eventually manifesting itself through liver disease which can lead to fatal liver cancer. Treatment - with interferon alpha - is expensive and not very successful. Intravenous drugs users are most at risk, and many cases occur among those who took drugs in the late 1960s, even though they have long since abandoned drug-taking. However, blood products were not screened for Hepatitis C until 1991, so anyone who received Factor 8 for haemophilia, or who received a blood transfusion before that date, has also run the risk of contracting the virus. Compensation was agreed for those who contracted HIV through contaminated blood products, but Health Minister John Horam M.P. makes it clear that there is no such prospect for those who similarly contracted Hepatitis C. Traces of the virus recently found in Factor 8 show that haemophiliacs continue to be at risk. A genetically engineered alternative to Factor 8 has been produced but the cost means that it is not generally available to NHS patients. The programme interviews sufferers who are seeking compensation and there are contributions from Prof. Howard Thomas, St Mary's Hospital, Paddington a