http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20061129TDY01001.htm
According to a study by a team of South Korean researchers, 6.5 percent of South Koreans who received liver transplants in China have been infected with hepatitis B or C.
It is suspected that Chinese organ donors were not examined properly, and that their livers or blood were infected with the hepatitis virus.
The findings suggest there is a possibility of the increasing number of Japanese nationals who receive organ transplants in China becoming infected with hepatitis.
The number of Japanese having transplant surgery in China shows no sign of abating.
More and more people are traveling to China from South Korea, for organ transplants. The research group, led by Prof. Lee Suk Koo of Sungkyunkwan University's transplant surgery department in Seoul, surveyed South Korean medical institutions that treat patients who had undergone liver transplantation in China.
According to the research, 490 patients received liver transplants over a five-year period ending last year. Of these, 32 have been infected with hepatitis B or C. It is feared these patients will subsequently develop liver cirrhosis or liver cancer.
According to a report compiled in March by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's study group, 106 Japanese have had kidney transplants and 14 have had liver transplants in China, as of March this year.
The group said there may be many other patients whom they could not locate, and other patients on whom postoperative health examinations could not be conducted.
Cases of Japanese infected with hepatitis after visiting China for transplant surgery have already been discovered. Taking Lee's research into account, it is possible the hepatitis virus is spreading further.
The stagnation of the domestic system in which organs can be removed from those pronounced brain dead is said to be behind the increased number of Japanese visiting China for organ transplants.