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How safe
is the blood supply in the United States?
The U.S. blood supply is
among the safest in the world. Nearly all people infected with
HIV through blood transfusions received those transfusions before
1985, the year HIV testing began for all donated blood.
The Public Health Service
has recommended an approach to blood safety in the United States
that includes stringent donor selection practices and the use
of screening tests. U.S. blood donations have been screened for
antibodies to HIV-1 since March 1985 and HIV-2 since June 1992.
Blood and blood products that test positive for HIV are safely
discarded and are not used for transfusions.
An estimated 1 in 450,000
to 1 in 660,000 donations per year are infectious for HIV but
are not detected by current antibody screening tests. In August
1995, the FDA recommended that all donated blood and plasma also
be screened for HIV-1 p24 antigen. The improvement of processing
methods for blood products also has reduced the number of infections
resulting from the use of these products. Currently, the risk
of infection with HIV in the United States through receiving
a blood transfusion or blood products is extremely low and has
become progressively lower, even in geographic areas with high
HIV prevalence rates. |
