UK Soldiers at risk from hepatitis Jan 10, 2008 British soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan may have been exposed to potentially deadly diseases including AIDS and hepatitis after receiving blood transfusions. Eighteen soldiers were given blood supplied by the United States without the batches being subjected to proper screening checks. British military chiefs launched a desperate search for the soldiers after the Pentagon warned that some batches of blood used for battlefield transfusions could be contaminated. Some of the soldiers needed blood transfusions after losing limbs while fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. But they were given blood from the US instead of Britain as an emergency measure. While each of the 18 soldiers believed to be affected have been informed, they now face an anxious wait for tests to reveal whether they have been infected with any diseases. The 18 men would probably have died without receiving an emergency blood transfusion.