HIV INFECTION VIA TRANSFUSION IS RARE, BUT OUTCOME IS DIRE.

Since the spring of 1985, all donated blood has been routinely screened for antibodies to HIV, greatly reducing the risk of transfusion-associated HIV infection. Three reports in the New England Journal of Medicine put this risk into perspective.

After reviewing 17 million American Red Cross blood donations, Cumming and colleagues estimated that the odds of contracting HIV infection in 1987 were 1 in 153,000 per unit transfused. Since transfused patients receive an average of 5.4 units, the odds were 1 in 28,000 per patient.

Leitman and colleagues provide evidence that between 1985 and 1988 there was a 3.5-fold reduction in the number of blood donors who were HIV-positive, indicating that fewer patients at high risk for HIV infection are dona…