Transfusion-associated human immunodeficiency virus type 1 from screened antibody-negative blood donors

Cases of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection acquired from transfusion of screened antibody-negative blood have been reported since 1986. Recent reports have proposed new combination antibody assays or the addition of HIV-1 p24 antigen testing to enhance the screening of blood donations further. Since antibody testing for HIV-1 began in 1985, 700 000 donor units have been screened at US Army blood donor centers. The US Army blood donor/recipient «lookback» program recently identified two cases of HIV-1 infection that resulted from a screened negative donation. Samples from the implicated unit, as well as from previous donations from the same donor, were available for testing to assess the performance of current screening methods