Screening of blood donations for HIV-1 antibody: 1985-1991

One hundred and ninety HIV-1 antibody positive donors have been detected, out of 14.85 million blood donations screened in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man, since the start of testing in October 1985 to the end of March 1991. There were 145 men and 45 women, with an overall seropositivity rate of 0.001%. Records for new donors (ie, those donating for the first time) have been kept since February 1986 and 79 out of 1.9 million donations have been seropositive (58 men and 21 women); a rate of 0.004%. One hundred and forty-one (74.2%) of the 190 positive donors were found to have been exposed to a high risk of HIV infection. Twenty-four (13%) denied any exposure other than heterosexual intercourse with partners who were not considered to be at high risk. In six cases the partners were from countries where the main route of transmission is heterosexual. Seven donors (4%) attributed infection to some other cause. Eighteen (9.5%) have been lost to follow-up, are still being investigated or have not yet been interviewed. Combined tests which screen for both HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies were introduced in June 1990. The last 2.55 million donations (including 370,000 new donors) have been tested with these kits. One HIV-2 antibody positive donation had been confirmed in a new donor by the end of March 1991.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)