dgreen@squid.cs.ucla.edu (Dan R. Greening) (04/09/90)
In article <33980@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> williams@cs.umass.edu writes: >In article <134061@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>, news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM (news) writes... >>> For a trip India, I recommend you get a gamma-globulin shot... >>Remember that the US blood supply is contaminated with AIDS. You have >>a 1 in 3000 chance of contracting AIDS from a blood transfusion, and >>probably the same odds with a gamma-globulin shot. > >Care to cite a reference for that figure or did you make it up? > >There are two types of hepatitis innoculations; one is made from blood >products and the other is totally synthetic. If you're REALLY worried, opt >for the latter. MY understanding is that the extensive processing required >to produce the vaccine from the blood products eliminated the already >miniscule risk of contracting aids. It's certainly NOT like getting a >transfusion! For the record: gamma-globulin is not a hepatitus vaccine. It confers temporary immunity, but it is not a vaccine. I'm not sure how it works. I hope a doctor will fill us in. If you are at risk for contracting hepatitus in India, I would suggest that you get vaccinated against hepatitus B. It is somewhat costly. The last I knew, it was $150 from a public health service. However, if you contract Hepatitus B, you have about a 10% chance of having a chronic, life-long case. That will cause you to be infectious to others indefinitely, and your risk of liver cancer increases substantially. HeptaVax, the hepatitus vaccine, is no longer being made from blood products. It is made from a genetically engineered yeast. You cannot get AIDS from HeptaVax. For the record, I have received both gamma-globulin and the HeptaVax vaccine. I got gamma-globulin back in 1981, after I had been exposed to someone with Hepatitus B. My doctor told me g-g might confer some immunity. It so happens that I did not contract Hepatitus B, and nobody knows whether it was luck or gamma-globulin. In 1982, Hepatitus B was still the number 1 killer disease of gay men. I got vaccinated in December of 1982, very soon after the vaccine was introduced (but I had to save my pennies for the $150 cost). Now, due to safe sex, the Hepatitus B infection rates have plummetted for gay men. Of course, we have other things to worry about now. HIV *infection* rates have dropped, because of safe sex education; AIDS cases and deaths continue to rise probably because there is such a long latency between infection and disease. Hepatitus B is also transmitted by contaminated water, which is why you might want to get vaccinated before you go to India. Dan Greening | NY 914-784-7861 | 12 Foster Court dgreen@cs.ucla.edu | CA 213-825-2266 | Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520