LONDON, Jan 10: Eighteen British troops are being tested for blood diseases after receiving emergency transfusions from American service personnel, Defence Minister Derek Twigg said on Thursday.

The British soldiers had been given life-saving treatment at American medical facilities after being wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence said it offered the tests when it learned that the American donors had not been screened for infection after giving the blood, as should have happened.

It said the British soldiers would almost certainly have died without the battlefield transfusions.

The soldiers will be checked for a range of infections including hepatitis B and C, syphillis, HIV, HTLV, which is suspected of causing leukaemia, and Chagas disease, a deadly parasite-borne condition found mainly in Latin America.

“We have now informed the 18 service personnel and their next of kin and testing is ongoing at the moment,” Twigg told BBC television.

The US Department of Defence told the BBC that the American donors had been found clear of hepatitis and HIV in subsequent tests.

Twigg said the risk of infection from the transfusions was low. “But we take it very seriously and it is important that we give our service personnel the opportunity for testing and support and counselling if necessary.”

He said it was normal for front-line troops to give blood to other soldiers in a battlefield emergency when pre-screened transfusions were not immediately available.—Reuters