Jason Unrau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 18/05) - After taking a battery of cancer tests this past summer, Rudy Cardinal got both good news and bad news when results came in.

Tire shop owner Rudy Cardinal was recently diagnosed with Hepatitis C that he believes was contracted through a tainted blood transfusion he received in 1983. - Jason Unrau/NNSL photo

Doctors told Cardinal, whose family has a history of cancer, that he was cancer-free. However, the bad news was that he had Hepatitis C.

"For so long, years really, I had been feeling so rotten you know never 100 per cent," explained Cardinal on why he got tested. "And now I know why."

Cardinal believes he contracted the liver disease back in 1983 at the regional hospital in Inuvik, where he received a blood transfusion for bleeding ulcers.

"I've had (Hep C) for almost 23 years without even knowing it," said a frustrated Cardinal from his tire shop on Industrial Road.

"And I know I'm not the only one."

For Cardinal, who has filed compensation papers, the money is not issue.

"I want to know why I was never contacted by anybody to get tested for this," he said. "I could have infected my kids or grandkids."

In 1998, the federal government accepted responsibility for an estimated 20,000 people in Canada who were infected with HIV or Hepatitis C from tainted blood between Jan. 1, 1986, and July 1, 1990. The rationale for that decision was based on the fact testing existed to eliminate tainted blood from circulation at that time but was not used.

However, in 2004 the feds said they would re-evaluate their guidelines to include a further 5,000 people who received blood that was imported from U.S. prisons between 1980 and 1985 and distributed throughout Canada.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus and infection that occurs when blood from an infected person (source) enters the system of another. While transmission is possible through unprotected sex, that risk is very low. Hepatitis C cannot be transmitted through sneezing, coughing or through saliva.

Though possible to be cured of the virus, most people who become infected carry symptoms for the remainder of their lives. The virus attacks the liver, the organ which is responsible for detoxification of one's system and aids in digestion.

Calls to the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding this matter were not returned prior to press time.