China Bans Import of Blood Products to Keep AIDS Out

PEKING —  In an attempt to prevent AIDS from spreading to China, the Ministry of Public Health and customs officials have banned import of blood products, the official New China News Agency reported today.

The ban covers frozen, liquid and dried human blood plasma, normal human immune globular proteins, and various other condensed and coagulant blood products. Only human serum albumin is exempt from the ban.

The report quoted a ministry official as saying the action is aimed at keeping AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, from reaching China through imported blood.

In other countries, hemophiliacs and other people who received blood transfusions have contracted the disease.

The first AIDS victim in China was reported last month, but he was a tourist, an Argentine resident of California. Oscar Messina, 34, died June 6 in Peking Capital Hospital after arriving on a tour.