Transmission of AIDS from Blood Screened Negative for Antibody to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus

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Abstract
Donated blood has been screened for antibody to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at U.S. blood-collection centers since March 1985, which should virtually eliminate the risk of acquiring infection with HIV by this route. Nonetheless, donors with early HIV infection who did not have detectable HIV antibodies at the time of screening have accounted for several cases of HIV infection due to screened blood.1 2 3 4 5 Only 1 patient with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) due to screened blood1 has been described in the United States, but from April 1985 through March 1990, 158 patients with AIDS (4.8 percent of all patients with transfusion-associated AIDS) whose cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control had purportedly acquired their infections from blood that was negative on screening for HIV.