| ||
| Vol. 21, No. 23 |
| December 15, 1999 |
|
July 1985 Blood collecting agencies in the Gulf Coast region began testing all blood donations for the presence of HTLV-III (human T-lymphotropic virus type III) antibody June 3. The test provides an extra safety check on blood so the risk of getting AIDS from transfusions will be even lower than it already is. This laboratory testing supplements the rigid donor screening programs initiated in March 1983 and strengthened in February 1984. Currently, all prospective donors are counseled not to donate blood if they are a member of one of the high-risk groups (gay and bisexual males, intravenous drug users and hemophiliacs). All donors are then required to designate the use of their blood for transfusion or for laboratory studies. Persons in high-risk groups who do not want to publicly identify themselves as being a member of those groups have the option of anonymously designating their donation for laboratory studies only. Leadership in the gay community has been very cooperative in working with the regional blood program and has been instrumental in educating individuals in that high risk group to refrain from donating. Evaluation of this designation program indicates the system is highly effective, and this program will be continued as an additional safeguard. The most important thing to understand is that the HTLV-III antibody test is not a test for AIDS, and that a positive test does not mean a person definitely will develop AIDS. At this time, the medical significance of a positive test is unknown in terms of its predictive value in an asymptomatic person. Donors will be notified of the results of such testing as soon as the City Health Department establishes alternate test sites. These alternate sites would test those who should not give blood, but who perceive the need for a test. During the clinical evaluation of the test, only about 0.15% of donations designated for transfusion use were found to be positive, while about 7% of donations designated for laboratory studies only were positive.
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmc-info@tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/12_15_99/page_12.html |