Dr. Shuping Wang, the whistleblower who exposed the HIV and hepatitis epidemics in China in the 1990s has died at the age of 69 in Utah.
In the 1990s, Dr. Shuping Wang discovered the spread of hepatitis C and HIV due to poor blood collection practices in China, potentially saving tens of thousands of lives. Because of what she exposed, she lost her job, was attacked and had her clinic vandalized.
In 1991, Dr. Wang worked at a plasma collection station, where local people sold their blood to government-run blood banks. She realized that poor collection practices, including cross-contamination in blood-drawing, exposed donors to risk of hepatitis C infection.
When she notified her senior colleagues at the station about it, she was ignored because it would increase costs for them. She then reported the issue to the Ministry of Health and as a result, the ministry required all donors to undergo hepatitis C screening. Her whistleblowing was negatively received by her colleagues so she was transferred to a health bureau.
While working at the health bureau in 1995, she uncovered that a donor who had tested HIV positive but had still sold blood in four different areas. She alerted her seniors to test for HIV at all the blood stations in the Henan province but she was again dismissed because of costs.
She decided to open her own testing clinic, buy test kits and randomly collect over 400 samples from donors. She discovered that the HIV positive rate was at 13%. She brought the results to the ministry but was eventually forced to leave the country and move to the US to work in 2001.
That was the same year the Chinese government admitted the AIDS crisis in central China.
A play inspired by her story titled "The King of Hell's Palace" premiered at London's Hampstead Theater in September.
She died on September 21 while on a hike with friends in Salt Lake City. It is believed that she may have had a heart attack.
