Linked by Blood: Hemophilia and AIDS

By David Green

Linked by Blood: Hemophilia and AIDS recounts the factors responsible for the widespread infection of people with hemophilia by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-contaminated blood and offers a prescription for addressing the challenges of future viral epidemics. The book describes the impact of AIDS on people with hemophilia, their families, and caregivers.

The collection, processing, and distribution of blood in the early years of the HIV epidemic are described, including the failure of regulatory agencies to promulgate effective rules to safeguard the blood supply. The contributions of individuals and organizations that mitigated the epidemic are recognized. Linked by Blood presents recommendations for addressing the myriad medical, social, and economic challenges posed by blood-borne viral infections (AIDS, Ebola, MERS) that periodically sweep through large segments of our population.

• Addresses the challenges of future viral epidemics
• Promotes understanding of the risks and benefits of blood transfusion
• Demystifies HIV/AIDS by explaining how the virus causes disease and is detected and treated
• Covers the factors that led to contamination of the blood supply and contributed to the AIDS epidemic
• Provides background information on hemophilia: who is affected, why they bleed, how it is treated, and what complications can occur
• Discusses the role of regulatory agencies in protecting the blood supply and ensuring the safety of blood and blood products
• Features new proposals to enhance blood product safety and regulate the prices of blood, drugs, and devices that are essential for human health

• Language: English
• Publisher: Academic Press
• Release date: May 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9780128054475

David Green

David Green is the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby, the largest privately owned arts and crafts retailer in the world. Hobby Lobby employs over 33,000 people, operates 800 stores in forty-seven states, and grosses more than $5 billion dollars a year. Currently David serves on the Board of Reference for Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2013, he was honored by receiving the World Changer award and is also a past Ernst & Young national retail/consumer Entrepreneur of the Year Award recipient. In 2017, the Green family opened the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC.

Book preview

2014.

Chapter 1

The Impact of AIDS on Hemophilia

Abstract

This chapter examines the impact of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) on individuals with hemophilia and their families. Disease caused by the AIDS virus (human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)) is doubly devastating because it produces a lethal physical illness and contributes to the social isolation of those infected. People with AIDS have recurrent infections requiring frequent physician visits, repeated hospitalizations, and expensive medications; they also experience rampant discrimination and often are barred from attending school and the workplace. The financial liability of hemophiliacs increased exponentially between 1982 and 1992, although government legislative actions provided some relief. Hemophiliacs initiated litigation against blood bankers, pharmaceutical firms, and government health officials in Europe and North America, who were accused of knowingly dispensing contaminated blood and blood products. This chapter details the social, medical, and financial impacts of HIV on the hemophilia community and describes the measures taken to ease their