Balearics pioneer blood disease detection

THE Balearics are leading pioneers in forging a scientific technique, which through the use of molecular biology, will be able to detect the presence of Hepatitis C in the bloodstream. Research is being undertaken directly on the virus which causes this disease, with the aim of being able to verify the quality of blood of an individual donor within only a few days. It will noticeably reduce the chances of passing on contaminated blood to a recipient. Jose Luis Antich Rojas, director of haematology at the Clinica Rotger in Palma, said that thanks to this method, it will no longer be necessary to wait until the end of the stipulated “quarantine period” of several weeks - which is the incubating cycle of the virus when it is at its most difficult to detect.