HIV seropositivity in blood donations: Prevalence, residual risk and epidemiology

As it has been observed since the beginning of anti-HIV screening in blood donations, the rate of seropositive donations has been still decreasing during these 4 last years : 0.090 parts per thousand in 1991 to 0.042 parts per thousand in 1994. This decrease has been observed in blood donations from first-time donors (0.38 to 0.17 parts per thousand) and from regular donors (0.060 to 0.030 parts per thousand). However, the residual risk from cellular components, such as it is estimated, seems to be stable. The proportion of blood donations positive for both anti-HIV and anti-HBc was constantly decreasing from year to year: 63 % between 1985 and 1988 and 25 % in 1994. The repartition of seropositive donors into sex, ages and at-risk groups during this recent period was the same as previously observed.