Infectious disease risk of cadaveric tissue donors who used non-injected illicit drugs

This study assessed the correlation between a history of non-injection illicit drug use by cadaveric tissue donors and the presence of markers for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), Human T Lymphocyte Virus Types I-II (HTLV-I-II), and Syphilis in their blood. It was found in 12,227 donors recovered in 2000-2002 that 9.68% of individuals with a history of non-injection drug use were seropositive for one or more infectious disease markers compared to 4.26% of donors without a history of drug abuse (p<0.001). A history of non-injection drug use had a positive predictive value of 9.68% and a negative predictive value of 95.74%. Analysis of seropositivity rates associated with individual drugs indicated that 9.6% of cocaine abusers were positive for one or more markers (p<0.001). Other drugs exhibited higher rates of seropositivity but the numbers were insufficient for statistical analysis. Other risk factors (transfusion of blood/blood products, tattoos and body piercing, incarceration) were not associated with higher incidence of infectious disease markers.