No abstract

To evaluate the consequences of receiving human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-seropositive blood, 90 HIV-1-seronegative recipients of HIV-1-seropositive blood (case patients) and 90 HIV-1-seronegative recipients of HIV-1-seronegative blood, matched for age, sex, number of transfusions, diagnosis, and severity of illness (controls), were followed for 12 months after transfusion at Mama Yemo Hospital in Kinshasa, Zaire. Of case patients and controls, 72% were children transfused for anemia caused by malaria. Of the 46 case patients case patients alive 6 months after transfusion and for whom HIV-1 serologic results were obtained, 44 (96%) had seroconverted. Significantly more case patients (47%) than controls (16%) died within 1 year after transfusion (P less than .001). In the first 3 months after transfusion, fatigue, diarrhea, fever, cough, pruritus, pallor, oral candidiasis, polyadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and rhinorrhea were observed more often among seroconverters than controls (P less than .04). Six percent of case patients and no controls had developed clinical AIDS after 12 months of follow-up. These findings underscore the urgent need for appropriate HIV screening facilities in transfusion centers worldwide.

We evaluated the use of voluntary blood donor recruitment in Kinshasa, Zaire, as a means of reducing transmission of HIV-1 and other infectious agents by blood transfusion. Between January 1, 1989, and April 7, 1989, 2,237 blood donors were enrolled in the study at the transfusion centre of the Mama Yemo Hospital. Each donor was tested for antibodies to HIV-1 confirmed by IFA and Western blot, Treponema pallidum, antibodies to hepatitis B virus (HBV) core antigen and screened for the presence of the HBV surface antigen. Test results were related to the data of the blood donors: age, sex, haematocrit, voluntary blood donor, family member donor, paid donor. The serological results of all donors for Anti-HIV-1, Anti-HBc, HBsAg and TPHA were 4.8%, 70.9%, 13.1% and 13.3% respectively. Lower seroprevalence rates were found among voluntary blood donors. However, only TPHA seroprevalence was significantly lower in voluntary blood donors (8.4%, 23/275) compared with paid donors (15.2%, 87/571) (p<0.01). A greater proportion of voluntary donors provides a store of blood which allows more extensive screening of blood for HIV-1 and other infectious diseases. Voluntary blood donor recruitment is critical for the provision of safe blood supplies in Kinshasa.