Blood donation and HIV infection: impact of seroconversion delay on the sensitivity of the testing procedure

This study estimates the impact of the delay of seroconversion on the global sensitivity of the testing procedure among regular blood donors who give 80% of blood donations in France and in the USA. When applied to the 1987 French data, an estimate of 77 to 161 false negative donations, depending on the assumption concerning the mean seroconversion delay, was obtained, as compared to the 388 positive donations detected. The global sensitivity of the testing procedure ranged from 70 to 83%. When applied to the 1986-87 American data, an estimate of 192 to 432 false negative donations was obtained, as compared to the 1728 positive donations detected. The global sensitivity of the testing procedure ranged from 80 to 90%. These results emphasize the need to recruit blood donors in low risk subgroup populations and to develop more sensitive biological tests.