The impact of AIDS on blood transfusion services in South Africa

The escalating incidence of AIDS in the African population will result in the occurrence of substantial numbers of transfusion-transmitted cases of AIDS. This can theoretically be controlled by using only blood from low-risk groups for the transfusion of cellular products, and using blood derived from the high-risk section of the community only for the production of plasma-derived products that can be virally inactivated. In the South Africa context, with its dichotomous first world and third world population, this will require certain steps which contravene various norms generally accepted by the blood transfusion discipline in Western Europe.