The Japanese Red Cross Society told the health ministry Wednesday it would store blood plasma longer, a decision resulting from a ministry probe that revealed thousands of units of tainted blood had likely been used, a report said. The ministry probe into suspected hepatitis B infections found 6,419 units of possibly contaminated blood products had been shipped from June 2002 through July 2003. The ministry discovered the Red Cross was not recalling blood of people who donated multiple times before testing positive for communicable viruses. Starting next year, the Red Cross will store frozen blood plasma for two months, increasing that period to six months two years later. The longer storage period will increase the chance that donated blood products can be recalled if the donor tests positive for HIV, hepatitis, or other viruses.

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