'I was used as a lab rat' - infected blood victim

A Lincolnshire man who was infected with hepatitis C from infected blood products as a child claims he was used as a "lab rat".

Jonathan Colam-French, who has haemophilia, was just 11 years old when he was given a blood clotting product, known as Factor VIII.

Mr Colam-French is one of more than 30,000 people in the UK who were given contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 80s.

The government, which is due to announce its findings from a public inquiry in May, described it as "an appalling tragedy".

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Colam-French, from Spilsby, said he did not realise he had been infected until he visited his GP, aged 28, after seeing coverage in the news about infected blood.

"She looked at my notes and said 'no, we don't need to test you, you've already got it'," he said.

"I felt shocked. I was angry for a very long time."

Due to a shortage of blood supplies at the time, the UK government imported Factor VIII from the US, where much of it was made from blood bought cheaply from high-risk donors such as prison inmates and drug users.

Factor VIII, which was not initially screened for infections, was made by pooling plasma from tens of thousands of donors, meaning if just one person was carrying a virus, the entire batch could be contaminated.

Mr Colam-French said his diagnosis explained why he had felt so exhausted and ill growing up.

"From the age of 11, to my mid-30s, my liver was under constant attack by a virus," he said.

"All through my teenage years and twenties, I looked like Uncle Fester. I had dark circles under my eyes. I was pallid; I looked ill."

Over the past few years, Mr Colam-French said he has carried out research and found documents showing he was given the clotting protein for a bruised finger at Lincoln Haemophilia Centre in September 1982.

Six months later, tests revealed he had been infected with hepatitis C.

In January 1982, haemophilia centres were advised in a letter co-written by a now deceased NHS consultant linked to the inquiry to give patients new heat-treated products aimed at destroying viruses.

They were to be administered to previously untreated patients (PUPs) not yet exposed to high-risk US products.

The letter explained the previous trials on chimpanzees were no longer suitable and they needed humans to test on.

Mr Colam-French strongly believes he was a victim of this testing.

"I would not have needed treatment for a bruised finger, it's ridiculous. I genuinely believe that the Lincoln Haemophilia Centre tested clotting factors on me," he said.

"It sounds fantastical that doctors in the NHS would test products that they thought might have a chance of having hepatitis C or HIV infections in them, by injecting them into young children like they're sort of like lab rats," he added.

Another man who lived, undiagnosed, with hepatitis C for many years, is Glenn Wilkinson, 59, from Hull.

He has serious liver disease after being given contaminated clotting protein during routine dental work at Hull Royal Infirmary in 1983.

The disease was picked up during a blood test in 1995.

"It's been horrendous. I've been left with serious liver disease and need to have regular six-monthly scans to check for liver cancer," he said.

"At the moment I'm just living with it day to day, wondering if they're going to find something. And that will continue for the rest of my life."

Mr Wilkinson, who also has haemophilia, fears the inquiry's final report into what has been described as the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history will not hold anyone to account.

"All these politicians and government officials get away with it all the time, and it's us that pay the price.

I watched [the TV drama] Mr Bates versus the Post Office, but for some reason our story just gets left, even though it's a far bigger story.

"We're talking about thousands of people that have been infected, we're talking about 3,000 that have already died," he added.

The government has to date paid over £400m in interim compensation payments, and committed to a final scheme.

But the co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood, and Hull North MP (Lab), Dame Diana Johnson, is frustrated about the delay.

"The chair of the inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, said last April, there were certain groups that had never received a penny, so that's parents who've lost children, and children who've lost parents.

"They've never received any money. No action has been taken on that and I think it's unforgivable by the government," she added.

In a statement, a government spokesperson said: "This was an appalling tragedy, and our thoughts remain with all those impacted.

"We are clear that justice needs to be delivered for the victims and have already accepted the moral case for compensation.

"This covers a set of extremely complex issues, and it is right we fully consider the needs of the community and the far-reaching impact that this scandal has had on their lives."

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