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From: williams@cs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: rec.travel,rec.backcountry,sci.med,sci.med.aids
Subject: Re: Water filter question
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Date: 7 Apr 90 00:16:39 GMT
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Copyright:	Copyright 1990 by Daniel R. Greening.  All rights reserved.
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In article <134061@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>, news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM (news) writes...
>In another article, hemstree@handel.cs.colostate.edu (charles hemstreet) says:
>> 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.

In article <134061@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>, news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM (news) writes...
>In another article, hemstree@handel.cs.colostate.edu (charles hemstreet) says:
>>
>> 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!

I am concerned that you may be needlessly scaring people away from being
vacinated.  Hepatitis is very serious stuff and MUCH more common in the third
world.  Note that you have to worry about both types of hepatitis - A and B.
For type A, you have to get a shot every 3 months or so.  For type B, you can
get a set of 3 injections over 3 months that will provide permanent protection.
While in the US, type B is usually only common among IV drug users and gays,
in parts of the third world it is very common in the general population.  I
spoke to a doctor in Thailand, for example, and he referred to a study that
showed the incidence of type B in the US was something like .025, in Thailand
it was something like 2.5 and can be aquired via food and other non-drug and
non-sexual means. 

Be SURE you're protected from hepatitus before venturing forth in the third
world!  Visit a traveler's clinic that specializes in such things.

Leo Pinard  c/o  williams@cs.umass.edu