FACTOR VIII

noun Also written factor eight (Health and Fitness) A substance in blood which is essential to the coagulation process and is deficient in haemophiliacs. Etymology: Substances which contribute to the blood-clotting process have been called factors since the early years of this century, and were assigned a series of identifying Roman numerals by medical researchers. This is the eighth in the series. History and Usage: Although congenital factor VIII deficiency had been identified as the cause of haemophilia by the fifties, the term did not become widely known until the Aids era. In the mid eighties, before the implications of Aids for the blood donor system were fully understood, thousands of haemophiliacs worldwide were infected with the Aids virus HIV as a result of receiving injections to boost their levels of factor VIII. This, and the subsequent actions for damages, brought the term factor VIII to public attention. Doctors, unaware of the cause of his illness, pumped him with huge doses of Factor VIII...But with AIDS becoming a public issue...both he and Elizabeth were aware that the massive transfusions of blood could well have exposed him to the virus. New Idea (Melbourne) 9 May 1987, p. 8 More than 1,200 haemophiliacs were infected with the Aids virus after treatment with contaminated Factor VIII, a blood-clotting agent that was administered through the NHS. Sunday Times 30 Sept. 1990, p. 1