Sky News published this video item, entitled “Government to review compensation for victims of infected blood” – below is their description.
Victims of the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS have welcomed the Government’s decision to review compensation payments.
In the 1970s and 80s, thousands of people with haemophilia and other illnesses were infected with HIV and hepatitis by contaminated blood products.
Some of the victims receive financial assistance, but there are significant regional disparities, which campaigners say is unfair.
Sky’s health correspondent Ashish Joshi reports.
Sky News videos are now available in Spanish here/Los video de Sky News están disponibles en español aquí https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzG5BnqHO8oNlrPDW9CYJog
Sky News YouTube Channel
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In This Story: HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of Lentivirus (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive.
Without treatment, average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype. In most cases, HIV is a sexually transmitted infection and occurs by contact with or transfer of blood, pre-ejaculate, semen, and vaginal fluids. Research has shown (for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples) that HIV is untransmittable through condomless sexual intercourse if the HIV-positive partner has a consistently undetectable viral load.
Non-sexual transmission can occur from an infected mother to her infant during pregnancy, during childbirth by exposure to her blood or vaginal fluid, and through breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells.
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