Risk of AIDS for recipients of blood components from donors who
subsequently developed AIDS
HA Perkins, S Samson, J Garner, D Echenberg, JR Allen, M Cowan and JA Levy
Irwin Memorial Blood Bank, San Francisco, CA 94118.
Reported cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in San
Francisco as of March 31, 1986, include 92 individuals who had donated
blood subsequent to 1978. Their donated blood components had been
transfused into 406 different recipients. The current status of 336 of
these recipients was ascertained as of April 1, 1986. Of these, 223 had
died at the time of our first contact, almost all as a result of the
condition for which they were transfused. Seven had developed AIDS; five of
these died, two before entry into the study and three subsequently.
Forty-six additional living recipients were interviewed and evaluated.
Seven had the AIDS-related complex, 18 had antibody to the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but were otherwise healthy, and 19 had no
detectable anti-HIV. Two had risk factors other than transfusion. The
frequency of infection of the recipient decreased as the time interval
between transfusion and the diagnosis of AIDS in the donor increased. This
information should be useful when counseling patients who have been
transfused with blood components from donors later found to be infected
with HIV.
Volume 70,
Issue 5,
pp. 1604-1610,
11/01/1987
Copyright © 1987 by The American Society of Hematology
