Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Four people who tested negative for HIV with a faulty testing kit have been told they are infected with the Aids virus, the Department of Health revealed yesterday.
No details of the four individuals have been released, but efforts to trace their sexual contacts to offer them HIV tests are now under way.
The confirmation of the false negatives follows the re-analysis of more than 20,000 blood samples tested for HIV between July1995 and March this year, with the IMX HIV 1/2 3rd generation kit.
Sir Kenneth Calman, the Chief Medical Officer, said in a statement: "I would like to extend my sympathies to [the four] individuals in what must be a very difficult situation."
The IMX kit, one of several used by the NHS, was withdrawn from sale worldwide on 25 March by its manufacturers, Abbott Laboratories of Chicago, after some reports of inaccurate results.
News of the kit's withdrawal was leaked at the start of the Easter bank holiday when clinics and GP surgeries were closed, leaving thousands of people desperate for more information and advice.
The Department of Health said that since July last year a total of 23,620 blood samples in the UK had tested negative using the IMX kit. All available stored samples - 20,900 - had been re-tested and four of the negative results found to be wrong. Stored samples were not available to re-test the remaining 2,720. About 800 of these were done in NHS clinics and the people concerned had been invited to provide fresh samples. The other 1,920 were provided for private tests, mainly for insurance purposes.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments